Alaska is the number one state in the nation for men killing women, number one in sexual assault, number one in rape, number one in child molestation, and the list goes on. In 2014, our daughter Bree was murdered by her boyfriend. After Bree’s death, we found out that prior to her death Bree had been abused by her boyfriend and she was a victim of dating violence/domestic violence. We then did everything we could to raise awareness in Alaska and prevent what happened to Bree from happening to other women. We successfully passed the Alaska Safe Children’s Act, which includes teen dating violence awareness and prevention education, known as “Bree’s Law”.
If this education would have been out there for Bree and her friends, Bree and many other young women might be alive today.
While we fought in the Alaska Legislature, for Bree’s Law and the Alaska Safe Children’s Act, we were unaware that Sen. Lisa Murkowski was doing the same. She was advocating, supporting and working on a federal level to include funding for this same education in Senate Bill 1177, the “Every Student Succeeds Act” that was signed into law Dec. 10, 2015. This allows school districts to use Safe and Healthy Students funding to “improve instructional practices for developing relationship-building skills, such as effective communication, and improve safety through the recognition and prevention of coercion, violence, or abuse, including teen and dating violence, stalking, domestic abuse, and sexual violence and harassment.”
Sen. Murkowski did this without a request from us. She did this because she knew the horrible statistics in Alaska and that this was critical education needed not only in Alaska, but nationwide. Currently Sen. Murkowski has on the Senate floor Senate Bill S.3185, that will allow the use of Bree’s name and her story, as “Bree’s Law”, nationally to further promote additional education on prevention of teen and dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and murder. Sen. Dan Sullivan is a co-sponsor of the Senate bill and Rep. Don Young has sponsored identical legislation in the House.
When you ask me what Sen. Murkowski has done and what she is doing for Alaska in the U.S. Senate, I can tell you that she and our delegation have made it a priority to work together with Congress and they are doing what it takes to save lives — not only in Alaska but nationwide.
Thank you Sen. Lisa Murkowski!
Butch Moore
Anchorage