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Congress Reauthorizes Violence Against Women Act

On February 28, the House passed, 286-138, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) of 2013 (S. 47). The Senate began consideration of an identical version of S. 47 on February 7 (see The Source, 2/8/13) and passed the legislation on February 12 (see The Source, 2/15/13). President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. The text of S. 47 is available here.

During consideration of the measure, the House rejected, 166-257, a substitute amendment by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) that would make several changes to the underlying bill. According to a Rules Committee section-by-section analysis, the amendment would have, among other provisions:

  • Required the Department of Justice and the Department Health and Human Services to conduct annual audits of VAWA grant recipients;
  • Required tribal courts seeking special domestic violence jurisdiction to be certified by the attorney general as having the ability to provide non-Indian defendants all rights secured by the U.S. Constitution;
  • Limited special domestic violence jurisdiction to domestic or dating violence offenses punishable by up to one year committed in Indian country against a tribal member or non-Indian who resides in Indian country;
  • Allowed defendants to file for domestic violence cases to be removed from tribal court to federal court if their rights were violated and to appeal the decision of a tribal court to the closest federal district court;
  • Excluded the provision that would ensure that victims are not denied services on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation;
  • Required that 75 percent of grants under the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program be used to reduce DNA evidence backlogs during FY2014, as opposed to FY2014 through FY2018;
  • Excluded the provision that would require seven percent of Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program funding to be used to conduct audits of untested DNA;
  • Directed the Department of Education to provide guidance and technical assistance to colleges and universities on their obligations under current law to operate prevention programs and report domestic violence and sexual assault statistics;
  • Excluded the provision that would require colleges and universities to have domestic violence and sexual assault policies in place and distribute such policies; and
  • Excluded the provision that would authorize appropriations for FY2014 through FY2017 for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.