× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

Each legislative session thousands of bills and amendments are introduced in the Pennsylvania Legislature. Only a fraction become law, and an even smaller portion receive wide media coverage.

These bills impact the lives of people living in Pennsylvania every day.

Each week The Sentinel will highlight one bill that has not received widespread attention.

About the bill

Each year roughly one in every 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Roughly 90 percent of these children are witnesses to the abuse, according to the NCADV.

Three state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would increase the penalties for acts of domestic violence by defining any child who witnesses this abuse as a criminal victim.

House Bill 2604, introduced by Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery County; Rep. Frank Farry, R-Bucks County and Rep. Perry Warren, D-Bucks County, would expand the definition of crime of endangering the welfare of children to include causing a child to witness an act of domestic violence.