September 15 -UPDATE: Republican lawmakers chose to continue the political game-playing rather than acting to restore funding to domestic violence programs. CLICK HERE for detailed update and next action

2:30 pm  UPDATE - GREAT NEWS!! The bill to restore funding to Domestic Violence programs has been voted out of committee.  Soon it will be on the Assembly floor for a vote, and then if approved, on to the Senate and then off to the Governor for approval.

What's more - they've found a different source of funding so that the Crime Victim Compensation fund is not put at risk!  Instead, the funds will be taken from the Alternative and Renewable Vehicle Fuel Technology Fund.  The administration will pay back the Renewable Fuel Fund  with interest by 2013.

CLICK HERE to urge your legislators to pass this lifesaving legislation!

The legislative session ends tomorrow, September 11, and CA legislators have not yet passed the bill that will restore funding to domestic violence shelters. Urge members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee to pass SX3 13 (formerly SB 662) NOW and send it to the floor for a vote.

Already 3 shelters have been forced to close and others are teetering on the brink of closing because of Governor Schwarzenegger's decision to terminate state funding to all domestic violence shelter programs. 

ACT NOW!

SX3 13 would make a one-time reduction of $16.3 million from the Victim’s Compensation Restitution Fund to provide funding to the 94 shelter programs that were previously funded under the Department of Public Health (DPH). The California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) will be the new agency that passes through the funds for one year, beginning July 1, 2009.  This is an urgency measure, and will take effect immediately if signed by the Governor.

The Governor's decision to terminate state funding to domestic violence shelters programs has resulted not only in victim's being denied the services they need - it has also resulted in unfortunate in-fighting between agencies that serve victims as we all try to ensure that much needed services remain available.  

Stop Family Violence regrets having participated in that infighting and wishes to clarify and correct information that we previously provided. 

In our previous action alert we stated that Crime Victim Assistance organizations opposed passage of this bill because they wanted to protect the money in their reserve for a future rainy day.  This is TRUE- see their letters of opposition here and here.  They project that taking money from the fund this year will result in a Fiscal year 10-11 negative balance for their fund of approx $8 million. 

In our previous action alert we also stated that the Crime Victim Compensation programs denied compensation to 85% of domestic violence victims who applied for compensation.  This is WRONG, and StopFamilyViolence.org sincerely regrets having misinformed our members on this point.

In fact, the Victim Comp fund has a very low rate of claims denial - less than 5% and nearly 25% of the claims they pay are to victims of domestic violence. 

You can read more about the Crime Victim Compensation Fund, their budget, and the good works they do on behalf of all victims of crime in their 2007-08 annual report (pdf)

NOTE that in their annual report on page 6, it says that in 2008 the Governor took $50 million from the Victim Compensation fund for the General Fund.  This depletion is much more significant than the $16.3 million that  domestic violence programs seek  now to keep victims safe. 

We urge the Crime Victim Compensation advocates to stop their opposition to funding domestic violence victims in their time of need.  Instead let us all pledge to work together next year to ensure that the $50 million the Governor took from the fund in 2008 is restored so that the fund stays solvent for years to come. 

ACT NOW - Contact the Public Safety Committee to urge them to pass SX3 13 NOW