Bill > ACR117

Introduced Session

This concurrent resolution urges Congress and the President of the United States to reauthorize the "Family Violence Prevention and Services Act" (FVPSA). A federal law enacted in 2010 reauthorized, or allowed for formal continued federal funding of, the FVPSA until 2015, but the FVPSA has not been reauthorized since. Bipartisan legislation, pending before the United States Senate and House of Representatives as S.2784 and H.R.6014, would reauthorize FVPSA funding from 2019 to 2023. FVPSA provides the primary federal funding stream in support of victims of domestic and dating violence and their dependents. Each year, the FVPSA, through various grants, helps fund over 1,600 community-based programs that provide emergency shelter, counseling, legal assistance, crisis intervention, and domestic and dating violence prevention education to 1.3 million victims nationwide. The law also funds the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and has a staff of trained operators and advocates who, in fiscal year 2017, answered 323,081 total phone calls, text messages, and online chats. A study conducted by the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) revealed that in just one day in 2017, 72,245 victims of domestic violence across the United States, 1,288 of whom were from New Jersey, received crucial services supported by the FVPSA. Despite the volume of services that FVPSA-funded shelters and programs provide daily, the NNEDV study noted that 11,441 requests for services, 131 of which were in New Jersey, went unmet due to lack of funding and resources. During a time in which domestic violence shelters overwhelmingly report that they struggle to meet demand for critical services, reauthorization of the FVPSA will help ensure protection against significant future funding cuts.

AI Summary

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Tennille McCoy (D)*,  Carol Murphy (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee (on 02/12/2024)

Official Document