Bill > A164

This bill establishes a "rape shield" law in civil cases involving allegations of sexual assault or sexual harassment, meaning it aims to protect victims from irrelevant and prejudicial questioning about their past sexual behavior. Specifically, it requires a party seeking to discover information about a victim's sexual conduct with others to demonstrate good cause, showing that the information is relevant to the case and could lead to admissible evidence. Furthermore, evidence of a victim's previous sexual conduct generally cannot be presented to a jury unless the party seeking to introduce it first obtains a court order after a private hearing where the judge determines if the evidence is relevant and if its value outweighs the potential for prejudice, confusion, or invasion of privacy. The bill also presumes that evidence of a victim's sexual conduct occurring more than a year before the alleged offense is inadmissible, and defines "sexual conduct" broadly to include various behaviors related to sexual activities.