A Suffolk County mother who lost her 27-year-old daughter to a fatal stabbing is now pushing New York lawmakers to create a public registry that would let people check whether a potential partner has a history of domestic violence. Bevin Llanes says her daughter, Megan Llanes, was killed by her boyfriend, and she wants that tragedy to spark change in Albany before another family suffers the same loss.
“I don't want another mother to go through what I'm going through,” Bevin Llanes said, according to News 12 Brooklyn, adding that she wants her daughter's death to help save at least one life. The outlet reports she is seeking to prevent a similar tragedy from happening to someone else's family.
The effort centers on bringing a version of Tennessee's “Savannah's Law” to New York. Tennessee became the first state in the country to launch a searchable public domestic violence offender registry on January 1, 2026, a law that requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to publish online conviction records for repeat offenders, according to Observer Today. That law covers individuals convicted of two or more qualifying domestic abuse offenses.
Named for a Deputy Killed by an Ex-Boyfriend
Tennessee's original law is named for 22-year-old Robertson County Deputy Savanna Puckett, who was shot and killed in her home in January 2022 by an ex-boyfriend who had a documented prior history of domestic violence arrests, per Police1. Puckett was found dead inside her burning home after missing roll call, a case that sparked statewide demands for accessible offender criminal histories.
New York State Senator Mario Mattera, who represents Smithtown and Huntington, plans to push legislation next session to bring Tennessee's model to New York, News 12 Brooklyn reports. Mattera described a registry similar to a sex offender registry that people could check for a person's domestic violence background, and the News 12 report notes the proposal would apply only to repeat offenders while allowing victims to keep their identities private.
Two Competing Bills in Albany
Mattera's proposal, Senate Bill S.8932, would create the New York State Persistent Domestic Violence Offender Registry and be funded through a $150 registration fee, with $100 directed to the state Domestic Violence Awareness Fund and $50 for database administration, according to NYSenate.gov. The bill targets repeat offenders convicted of at least two domestic violence offenses rather than first-time offenders.
A separate measure, Assembly Bill A.9538, would require local court clerks to transmit repeat domestic violence conviction records to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to maintain an online public database, Observer Today reported. Because both proposals were introduced by Republican lawmakers, passage requires building bipartisan consensus in the Democratic-majority legislature. Assemblyman Steve Stern, who is sponsoring the Assembly bill, said signs of domestic violence are often missed until it is too late and that domestic violence is rarely a one-time crime. Stern said he expects Savannah's Law to save lives once implemented, per the News 12 Brooklyn report.
A Familiar Fight in Albany
This isn't the first time New York has tried this. A previous effort, known as Brittany's Law and named after 12-year-old Brittany Passalacqua, who was murdered in Geneva in 2009, passed the state Senate eight consecutive times but repeatedly stalled in the Assembly, according to NYSenate.gov. Passalacqua and her mother were killed by a violent felon whose prior conviction history was unknown to the mother at the time.
Opposition has come from legal and policy groups as well. The New York City Bar Association's Criminal Courts Committee has formally opposed violent offender registries in New York, arguing that public databases fail to reduce recidivism, create heavy court burdens, and risk shifting blame onto victims. The association emphasizes that registries impose administrative burdens on courts and that empirical studies fail to show a deterrent effect, per its own report.
The Numbers Behind the Push
The Numbers Behind the Push The push comes amid ongoing attention to domestic violence in New York.
In New York City specifically, intimate partner violence homicides increased by 10% in 2024 even as overall violent crime across the city dropped below pre-pandemic levels, per the Independent Budget Office. A News 12 analysis of federal data separately found that more than 3.5 million women in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have experienced physical violence, stalking or sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime.
Neighboring States Are Moving Too
New York isn't acting alone in confronting the issue. New Jersey lawmakers are considering requiring certain professionals, including guidance counselors, to report suspected domestic violence to police, News 12 Brooklyn reports. In Connecticut, a new law will create a single statewide system to track domestic violence cases from start to finish, with officials saying the system is meant to help them identify patterns and improve their response.
The momentum extends beyond the Northeast. Lawmakers in states including Kentucky and Texas have introduced or revived domestic violence registry proposals in 2026, citing Tennessee's framework as a national model for state safety reform. Hoodline previously reported that Kentucky's proposed 2027 bill was revived after a fatal domestic incident in Lexington where an unserved arrest warrant had been pending.
For Bevin Llanes, the legislative mechanics matter less than the outcome. She has made clear her hope is simple: that no other mother has to bury a daughter because the warning signs of a dangerous partner stayed hidden until it was too late.
