by 2nd VP Advocacy: Daneene Monroe Rusnak

On March 15th 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2022, which included the long absent re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

THANK YOU to those who took action via our digital advocacy platform and beyond! NFBPWC had 97 contacts to Senators through our OneClick politics platform.

Below are a few key points about the legislation, excerpted from the Department of Justice’s Press Release about the re-authorization:

In addition to recognizing expanded jurisdiction for American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, the VAWA re-authorization addresses numerous Department of Justice priorities, including:

• Reauthorizing until 2027 VAWA’s vitally important grant programs, which will allow communities to provide critical services to survivors, as well as the right tools and training to make sure that responses to these crimes are survivor-centered and trauma-informed. 
• Increasing services and support for underserved populations, including culturally specific communities, LGBTQ survivors, individuals with disabilities, immigrant survivors, older adults, and victims in rural communities, among others.
• Closing gaps in federal sex crimes statutes and promoting accountability for law enforcement officers, by strengthening the ability to prosecute federal officers who sexually assault or abuse those in their custody, and by appropriately penalizing defendants who commit civil rights offenses involving sexual misconduct, which includes those who commit sexual assault while acting under color of law and those who commit sexual assault as part of a hate crime.
• Enhancing efforts to reduce homicides through enforcement of federal and state firearms laws, including by enacting the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Denial Notification Act to help state law enforcement investigate and prosecute unlawful firearms purchasers and amending the Gun Control Act to make clear that the firearm prohibitions apply to domestic violence offenders convicted under municipal ordinances.
• Improving access to justice for survivors by expanding grant funding for legal services and authorizing post-conviction legal assistance to survivors in matters arising out of their domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or sex trafficking victimization.