On April 26, the Senate approved, 68-31, S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the legislation on February 2 (see The Source, 2/3/12).
Sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the measure would reauthorize through FY2016 several programs to combat domestic and dating violence, rape, and sexual assault. According to the committee report, the bill would authorize $222 million for the STOP [Services-Training-Officers-Prosecutors] grant program. The program is the primary grant program to address dating violence, domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault. The bill places increased emphasis on sexual violence by including additional training for law enforcement personnel and prosecutors, as well as funding to reduce the backlog in testing DNA rape kits. The bill would provide $40 million for the Sexual Assault Services Program, the only VAWA program specifically dedicated to victims of sexual assault.
The Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforce Protection Orders (GTEAP) program would receive $73 million under S. 1925. Like the STOP grant program, the bill places increased emphasis on sexual violence, in this instance by implementing the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, Forensic Examiner, and Sexual Assault Response Team programs, and by reducing the DNA rape kit backlog.
The measure would provide $12 million to address violence on college campuses and would require colleges and universities to inform their school community about their procedures and policies regarding dating violence, rape, stalking, and sexual assault.
The legislation includes new provisions to address domestic, dating, and sexual violence, as well as stalking among men, immigrants, and Native Americans. The bill would permit states to fund programs that target male victims of violence and victims that have difficulty accessing traditional services due to their sexual orientation. The bill would expand the list of enumerated crimes for which non-citizen victims of violence may obtain a U visa to include dating violence and stalking; domestic violence and sexual assault currently are listed.
The legislation would authorize grants for tribal governments and tribal coalitions in order to reduce and eliminate violence against Indian women. The measure would grant tribal jurisdiction to prosecute non-Native Americans who perpetrate domestic and dating violence.
During consideration of the bill, the Senate rejected, 37-62, a substitute amendment by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) that would have increased the mandatory minimum sentences for sex offenders and adhered more closely to current law by removing or amending provisions, including tribal jurisdiction over non-Native Americans, access to services by gay and lesbian victims of violence, and U visas for battered illegal immigrants.
The Senate also rejected the following amendments:
Under the rules for the Senate’s consideration of the bill, 60 votes were needed to pass amendments.
