Update on Violence Against Women Act II

The Violence Against Women Act of 1998 (VAWA II) has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 3514. I want to thank everyone who responded to WomanView’s earlier request for input into the drafting of the VAWA II legislation. You can see the results of your input on the Web. The full text of the final version of VAWA II is currently available on the Congressional Web site http://thomas.loc.gov. It also will be available soon on the NOW LDEF Web site www.nowldef.org.

Chief sponsors are Conyers (D-MI), Morella (R-MD) and Schumer (D-NY). There are currently 84 original sponsors. They include Illinois Representatives Blagojevich, Evans, Gutierrez, Jackson, and Rush. We urge you to call your representative to ask him to add his name to the list of VAWA II supporters if he has not yet done so. Illinois congressional delegation members who were sponsors of VAWA I and therefore are likely to sign onto VAWA II include Representatives Davis, Fawell, Hyde, Lipinski, Porter, Poshard, and Yates. Everyone should call Poshard since he is the Democratic candidate for Illinois governor.

The Illinois congressional delegation: