Legislative Advocacy Day

Thanks and Congratulations to all who helped our advocacy to protect domestic violence funding.

Members of the General Assembly of Virginia passed a budget yesterday that restored funding for domestic violence services, homeless shelters (including domestic violence shelters), and child advocacy centers to the levels proposed in former Governor Kaine’s budget.

Your message was persistent, it was clear, and it was effective! It is a direct result of everyone’s efforts that victims of domestic violence will still have access to safe shelter and life-saving services.

Thank you to the Members of the General Assembly, especially the Budget conferees, for protecting these programs!

Now, we await Governor McDonnell’s signature!

So, here’s what it all means in dollars and cents!

We started this session with a budget proposed by former Governor Kaine that included a 7.5% cut for domestic violence services through the Department of Social Services (VDSS), a 5% cut for Sexual Assault Crisis Centers through the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), an 8% cut for homeless intervention services through the Department of Housing and Community Development (DCHD), and a 10% cut to Child Advocacy Centers.

The Budget passed by the General Assembly includes these original cuts to funding, but no more! The statewide reductions to domestic and sexual violence services will be:

DV Funding at VDSS: $138,750 cut in 2011 & 2012;
SV Funding at DCJS: $67,500 cut in 2011 & 2012;
Homeless Funding at DCHD: $400,000 in 2011 & 2012;
Child Advocacy Centers: $100,000 in 2011 & 2012.

We also spent time advocating for a raise in marriage license fees. What Happened to the Budget Amendment?

The General Assembly did not include the marriage license fee increase in the final budget.

This is GOOD news in that our requested fee increase which was intended to expand services was not used to restore a funding cut. Therefore the Action Alliance can still ask for an increase in the fee in the future to provide expanded services, such as those for children and youth.
The downside is that we don’t have dedicated funding for children and youth services. It also means that domestic violence funding was not completely restored to its 2009 levels.

Holding the domestic violence and shelter funding cuts to below 10% is a significant feat in a budget year like this. Everyone of you who made a call, wrote a letter, had a visit, spread the news, or got media attention is a part of this success! So thank you to everyone who responded to the action alerts put out by the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance and spoke up on behalf of Virginia’s domestic violence programs and the persons they serve.

Domestic violence services are important to everyone. A special thank you to the following who engaged in grassroots organizing to spread the news of the domestic violence cuts and rally support for restoring funds:

NOW-Virginia
Virginia Interfaith Center
The Farm Team
Voices for Virginia’s Children
Virginia Organizing Project, which held a Bake Sale for the Budget.

Heartfelt thanks to Senator Mary Margaret Whipple and Delegate John O’Bannon for serving as our budget amendment patrons (and Delegate Kirk Cox for co-patroning) and to all of the Budget Conferees who supported restoring our funds.

Finally, a big thank you to the lobbyists, Gena Boyle and Claire Guthrie Gastañaga who worked tirelessly to get these funds restored (and Chris Spanos who helped explain the complicated and veiled budget process).

Now for the Next Steps and what you can do to help:

Governor: Now the budget is in the Governor’s hands – he can sign it or amend it. Please call (804-786-2211) or e-mail via http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TheAdministration/contactGovernor.cfm and ask him to approve the budget as it includes no additional cuts to domestic violence and sexual assault programs.

Thanks again to all of our Local allies – your efforts were critical in getting this funding restored.

Re-posted (revised) from the The Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. http://www.vsdvalliance.org

Earlier I posted a press release by the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance detailing the proposed budgets released by the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. There are significant differences between the House and Senate proposals and we need everyone’s help to bridge the gap and protect funding for domestic violence services.

The House Appropriations Committee is recommending a budget that includes significant cuts for domestic violence services (31%).

The Senate Finance Committee is recommending a budget that minimizes cuts for domestic violence services (7.5% ) and also includes an increase in the marriage license fee to $45 to provide funding for services to children and youth.

The Action Alliance is calling on its membership and supporting community members to ask our state Senators and Delegates to support an increase in the marriage license fee to preserve the opportunity to provide services to children and youth exposed to sexual and domestic violence without sacrificing services to adults victims of domestic violence services.

Each body will be voting on their respective budgets on Thursday, and then a conference committee will be appointed to try to resolve the differences and come up with one budget.

They need to hear from you that there is a revenue source in the Senate Budget to protect funding for domestic violence services.

Following are some steps that you can take:

1. Contact your state Senator:

Call your state Senator, express gratitude for the Senate Finance Committee’s support of domestic violence programs, and ask him/her to support the recommended budget of the Senate Finance Committee who worked hard to protect domestic violence program funding and supported the budget amendment for children’s services.
- If you do not know who your state Senator is, go to: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform.
- For Senator Capitol office phone numbers: http://sov.state.va.us/SenatorDB.nsf/$$Viewtemplate+for+WMembershipHome?OpenForm
Send a personal letter (it can be brief) to your Senator immediately after your call to follow-up and reiterate in writing the need for them to support the Senate Finance Committee’s proposed budget and increase in the marriage license fee.

2. Contact your state Delegate

Call your state Delegate ask him/her to support an increase in the marriage license fee, making it $45, to restore the proposed cuts in the House Appropriations Committee recommended budget (31% reduction) and create the opportunity to provide services to children and youth without sacrificing services to adults victims.
- If you do not know who your state Delegate is, go to http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform.
- For Delegate Capitol office phone numbers: http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView

3. Contact anyone you know who is concerned about the safety of domestic violence survivors and their children, and ask them to also contact their Senators and their Delegates.

4. Contact your local domestic violence program and ask how you can support their action steps in your community.

5. After taking action, please let us know and share with us how it went by sending an email to dhaynes@vsdvalliance.org or making a post to the 1,000 Grandmothers Campaign on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/1000-Grandmothers-Campaign/275846239928?ref=mf

If you have any questions or concerns about this information, please free to contact the Action Alliance Co-Directors, Jeanine Beiber or Kristi VanAudenhove at directors@vsdvalliiance.org or 804-377-0335.

Thank you for your support!

Carol Olson, Governing Body Member and Executive Director of the Rappahannock Council Against Sexual Assault

The V Word

Advocating to end sexual and domestic violence

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