Ask Congress to Reauthorize the VAWA for Spring 2000

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) must be reauthorized in 2000. The VAWA reauthorization bill, H.R. 1248, authorizes $1 billion to battered women's shelters over the next five years and establishes a National Resource Center on Sexual Assault to offer rape-prevention education.

The bill also reauthorizes funding for local, state, and national crime data bases for tracking stalking and domestic violence; funding for the National Domestic Violence Hotline; funding for transitional housing programs for women escaping violence; increased funding for rape prevention education; funding for rural domestic violence and child abuse enforcement. It reauthorizes grants to combat violence against women and education and prevention grants to reduce sexual abuse of runaway, homeless, and street youth. The bill calls for increased attention to violence in the lives of certain women, such as older women, disabled women, immigrant women, and Native American women. The bill allocates funds for federal victims' counselors; funds for the education and training of judges and court personnel; funds for community initiatives; and funds to encourage proarrest policies in domestic violence cases.

The original Violence Against Women Act of 1994 provided for improved prevention and prosecution of violent crimes against women and children. The current version focuses on funding levels that reflect the increased costs and importance of programs and services for underserved populations and victims of battery, sexual assault, rape, and incest.

See more information about the VAWA reauthorization on the VAWA Web site, www.VAWAct.org. Sign onto, download, and circulate by March 8, 2000, a petition-available on the Web site-supporting the VAWA reauthorization bill.

To ensure that Congress act this spring on the VAWA reauthorization and funding proposals, call, write, e-mail, and fax your representatives, especially if they are not yet cosponsors of the bill: Henry Hyde (R-6), Philip Crane (R-8), John Porter (R-10), Jerry Weller (R-11), Dennis Hastert (R-14), Thomas Ewing (R-15), Donald Manzullo (R-16), Ray LaHood (R-18), David D. Phelps (D-19), and John Shimkus (R-20). Let them know that we want the VAWA reauthorization bill to move through the committee process and be scheduled for markup by March 8, 2000.

The VAWA reauthorization bill must pass both houses of Congress by the end of April so that the budget and appropriations committee will have guidance when they make funding decisions for 2001.

If you would like more information about VAWA, contact Wendy Pollack, National Center on Poverty Law, 312.263.3830 ext. 238.

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