On July 27, the House Judiciary Committee made quick work of approving a bill (H.R. 3402) to reauthorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) through FY2009. The measure, which also included legislation to reauthorize and expand the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), was approved by voice vote. VAWA (P.L. 103-322) was first enacted in 1994. It was reauthorized in 2000 (P.L. 106-386) and is set to expire on September 30, 2005.
Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) lauded the bipartisan nature of the bill, saying that it “contains many new provisions that Members on both sides of the aisle have contributed to and should feel very proud of.” With respect to the VAWA provisions, he added, “Titles IV through X reauthorize core programs on domestic violence from 1994 and 2000 and make improvements to those grant programs to enhance our ability to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.”
Joining the chair in commending the committee for its bipartisan work, Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) said, “An important piece of the bill is the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. This is the third time we have worked on this bill, and each time we make dramatic improvements by using new vehicles to tackle the issue…This time we take it a step further. This time, instead of focusing on adult victims of violence only, we try to address the problem of violence against children and youth by including programs for college campuses and assistance to youth who are themselves victims of violence.”
Prior to approving the measure, the committee adopted, by unanimous consent, a manager’s amendment that made numerous technical changes to the bill, added several DOJ provisions, tightened up language pertaining to a new VAWA sexual assault program, and made slight reductions in the funding levels of several VAWA programs.
DOJ Provisions
The Office of Justice Programs would be authorized at $121.11 million in FY2006, $125.95 million in FY2007, $130.99 million in FY2008, and $132.23 million in FY2009. The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) would be authorized at $14.17 million in FY2006, $15.6 million in FY2007, $16.22 million in FY2008, and $16.84 million in FY2009. Additionally, the sex offender management program would be authorized at $5 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010.
Other provisions within the DOJ reauthorization that are specific to women and their families include:
The bill also would merge the Byrne Grant Program with the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant, creating a new Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, which would provide grants to states or local governments for law enforcement programs; prosecution and court programs; prevention and education programs; corrections and community corrections programs; drug treatment and enforcement programs; planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and crime victim and witness programs. The program would be authorized at $1.09 billion in FY2006 and such sums as necessary in each of FY2007 through FY2009.
VAWA Provisions
H.R. 3402 would reauthorize and expand current VAWA programs under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee, as well as add a number of new programs aimed at enhancing services. The STOP grants program would be reauthorized at $215 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010 and would be expanded to include grants for collaborating with and informing public officials and agencies to develop policies to reduce or eliminate domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; supporting nonprofit victim services programs and tribal organizations working with public officials; maintaining core victim services and criminal justice initiatives, while supporting new, complementary initiatives; and providing special victim assistants in local law enforcement agencies to serve as liaisons between law enforcement and victims. Additionally, STOP funding could be used for forensic medical exams for victims of sexual assault; however, states could not require victims to seek reimbursement for such exams from their health insurance, and victims would not be required to participate in criminal proceedings in order to receive such exams. The bill would remove the STOP grants matching funds requirement for small law enforcement agencies (under 20 officers) and victim service providers with budgets under $5 million.
Grants to Encourage Arrests and Enforce Protection Orders would be reauthorized at $65 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. Improvements to this grant program would include adding sexual assault to the list of crimes, allowing victim service providers to collaborate with law enforcement to develop best practices regarding arrests and strengthening protection orders, establishing protocols for preventing dual arrests, and authorizing the establishment of Family Justice Centers.
Legal Assistance for Victims would be reauthorized at $55 million per year for five years. H.R. 3402 would clarify that legal assistance may be used for civil and criminal case assistance for adult, youth, and minor victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
The bill includes a new Grants for Court Training and Improvements program, which would be authorized at $4 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. The program would award grants to improve court responses to adult, youth, and minor domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking cases. Additionally, the bill would authorize $1 million per year for five years for the OVW to develop a national educational curriculum for state and national judicial educators to ensure that all courts and court personnel have access to information about relevant federal, state, territorial, or local laws, best practices, procedures, and policies regarding court responses to such crimes. A separate tribal curriculum also would be established for tribal court judges. This section also would authorize $5 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010 for a new program called Access to Justice for Teens, which would provide grants to encourage cross training and collaboration between the courts, domestic violence and sexual assault service providers, youth organizations and service providers, violence prevention programs, and law enforcement agencies to establish and implement policies serving youth ages 12 to 24.
H.R. 3042 would clarify that courts should enforce protection orders that have been issued by civil and criminal courts in other jurisdictions for adult and minor victims. Additionally, a new task force to review and report on policies, procedures, and technological issues that may affect privacy and confidentiality of victims would be authorized at $1 million per year for five years, and the national stalker database would be reauthorized through FY2010.
The bill would authorize $1 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010 for appointing victim assistants for the prosecution of sex crimes and domestic violence crimes in the District of Columbia. The measure also would amend current stalking laws to include stalking over the Internet and would double the prison sentence for repeat offenders of interstate domestic violence violations, interstate violations of protection orders, or interstate stalking violations.
H.R. 3402 would require a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study to determine the extent to which men, women, youth, and children are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The report also should examine the availability of shelter, counseling, legal representation, and other services to all victims.
A new grant program designed to provide support for the establishment, maintenance, and expansion of rape crisis centers in states and territories would be authorized at $60 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. The Rural Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Enforcement Assistance Program would be reauthorized at $50 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. Assistance for Victims of Abuse would be authorized at $20.5 million per year for five years. The program would provide grants for services for victims of domestic violence, abuse by caregivers, and sexual assault who are 50 years and older or who have disabilities.
The measure would require the GAO to study the National Domestic Violence Hotline to determine its effectiveness in assisting victims of domestic violence. A new Grants for Outreach to Underserved Populations program would be authorized at $2 million per year for five years to carry out national public information campaigns to address adult, youth, or minor crimes within tribal, racial, and ethnic populations and immigrant communities.
The legislation also would establish a new grants program to support efforts by domestic violence or dating violence victim service providers, courts, law enforcement, and child welfare agencies to develop collaborative responses and services and to provide cross-training to enhance community responses to families where there is both child maltreatment and domestic violence. The program would be authorized at $8 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. Another program, Services to Advocate for and Respond to Teens (START), would be authorized at $10 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. The program would provide grants to assist youth who are victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
Grants to Combat Violent Crimes on Campuses would be reauthorized at $15 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. The Safe Havens for Children program, which provides supervised visitation, would be reauthorized at $20 million per year for five years. Grants to Combat Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking in Middle and High Schools would be authorized at $5 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. The new program would provide funding to schools that work with domestic violence and sexual assault experts to provide training to school personnel, develop and implement policies regarding identifying and referring students who are experiencing violence, provide support services for students and school personnel, provide developmentally appropriate educational materials, work with student mentors, and conduct evaluation of the programs.
A new grant program aimed at mitigating the effects of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on children exposed to such violence would be authorized at $15 million per year for five years. Another $10 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010 would be authorized for grants to develop or enhance programs related to building alliances among men, women, and youth to prevent such crimes, and another $5 million per year for five years would be authorized for home visitation programs to develop and implement model policies and procedures to train home visitation service providers on addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Protections for immigrant women would be expanded under H.R. 3402. Currently, T visas are available to trafficking victims who cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of the crime. Certain family members also are eligible for the visas, but they must demonstrate extreme hardship in order to qualify. Under the bill, the extreme hardship provision would be removed. Additionally, the bill would extend the issuance of U visas, available to victims of certain crimes who cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of the crime, and T visas to four years, with further extensions determined on a year-by-year basis. H.R. 3402 also grants the secretary of homeland security the authority to change the status of a T visa recipient to permanent resident after the individual has been present in the U.S. for three years under the visa. The bill would clarify the definition of “VAWA petitioners” to include individuals who have self-petitioned for permanent residency in the U.S. as the battered spouses and children, as well as the battered parents, of U.S. citizens and permanent residents and would allow VAWA petitioners who have been approved, as well as T visa recipients, to obtain work permits. Individuals who have filed VAWA petitions, or who have filed for U or T visas, would be allowed to remain in the U.S. without being detained while the application is being considered. H.R. 3402 also would allow individuals who entered the U.S. on K visas (fiancée visa), with the intent to marry, to self-petition as a spouse if they were battered by the U.S. citizen who filed the K visa. Such an individual would not be required to leave the U.S. within three months if the marriage did not occur, and the individual would not be subject to a two-year conditional residency. Further, battered spouses and children of individuals who were granted asylum in the U.S. would be allowed to self-petition. The bill also would remove the two-year custody and residency requirement for a battered adopted child.
Finally, H.R. 3402 contains a section dealing with safety on tribal lands. The measure would allow Indian law enforcement to enter information into federal criminal information databases and to obtain information from such databases, including identification records, criminal history records, protection orders, and wanted person records. A national tribal sex offender registry and a tribal protection order registry would be authorized at $1 million in each of FY2006 through FY2010. A Tribal Division would be established within the OVW, and a Safety for Indian Women Formula Grants program would be created, which would combine all of the Indian set-asides throughout the bill into a single formula grant to be distributed by the Tribal Division. Additionally, the GAO would be required to report on the status of prosecution of sexual assault and domestic violence on tribal lands.
Several other bills have been introduced to reauthorize and expand VAWA: S. 1197, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE); H.R. 2876, sponsored by Rep. Mark Green (R-WI); and H.R. 3171, sponsored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider S. 1197 in September.
