TITLE
I - Strengthening Law Enforcement to Reduce Violence Against Women
Sec.
1101. Improving Full Faith and Credit Enforcement of Protection Orders
- Re-names pro-arrest grants to expressly include enforcement of protection
orders, and is designed to help state and tribal courts improve interstate
enforcement of protection orders. This section gives tribal courts full
civil jurisdiction to enforce protection orders and also prioritizes
the development and enhancement of data collection and sharing systems,
and instructs the Department of Justice to identify and make available
information on protection order enforcement practices.
In addition, it amends the full faith
and credit provision in the original Act to prohibit registration as
a prerequisite to enforcement of out-of-state orders, and to prohibit
notification of a batterer without the victim's consent when an out-of-state
order is registered in a new jurisdiction. As a condition of funding,
recipients of STOP and Pro-Arrest grants must ensure filing and service
of protection orders at no cost to the victim.
Sec. 1102. Enhancing the Role
of Courts in Combating Violence Against Women - This section
funds the training and education of court personnel, technical assistance,
and technological improvements. It also amends STOP and Pro-Arrest grants
to make state and local courts expressly eligible for funding and dedicates
five percent of states' STOP grants to courts. 5% set aside for Indian
Tribal governments.
Sec. 1103. STOP (Services and
Training for Officers and Prosecutors) Grants Reauthorization -
Authorized at $185 million/year through 2005 (fiscal year 2000 appropriation
was $206.75 million, including $28 million earmarked for civil legal
assistance). This section reauthorizes grants to bring police and prosecutors
in close collaboration with victim services providers. It preserves
VAWA's original allocations of states'
STOP grants (25 percent to police and 25 percent to prosecutors), but
increases grants to victim services to 30 percent (from 25 percent),
and allocates 5 percent allocated to state courts, leaving only 15%
for discretionary. Raises small state minimum to $600,000 per year.
2.5% set-aside each for State domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions,
and the allocation for Indian tribes is increased to 5 percent (up from
4 percent in the original Act). Adds dating violence. Also adds two
new sexual assault-related purpose areas to include coverage of forensic
medical examiners and multidisciplinary approaches.
Sec.
1104. Pro-Arrest Grants Reauthorization - Authorized at $65
million/year through 2005 (fiscal year 2000 appropriation was $34 million).
This section extends grants to develop and strengthen programs and policies
that mandate and encourage police officers to arrest abusers who commit
acts of violence or violate protection orders. Includes dating violence.
Sec.
1105. Rural Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
Enforcement Grants Reauthorization - Authorized at $40 million/year
through 2005 (FY2000 appropriation was $25 million). This section extends
direct grants to state and local governments for services in rural areas.
5% set aside for Indian tribal governments. Includes dating violence.
Sec. 1106. National Stalker and
Domestic Violence Reduction Grants Reauthorization - Authorized
at $3 million/year through 2005 (fiscal year 1998 appropriation was
$2.75 million). This section extends grant programs that help state
and local governments improve databases dealing with stalking and domestic
violence.
Sec. 1107. Clarify Enforcement
to End Interstate Battery/Stalking -This section clarifies
federal jurisdiction over persons crossing state lines (including foreign
travel), and expands federal jurisdiction to include battery to cause
travel. This section also makes the nature of harm uniform for domestic
violence, sexual assault and stalking interstate travel offenses, and
clarifies the "Interstate Violation of Protection Order" section.
Sec. 1108. Grants to Reduce Violent
Crimes Against Women on Campus - Authorized at $10 million/year
through 2005 (fiscal year 2000 STOP grant appropriation included a $10
million earmarked for this use). This section reauthorizes grants for
on-campus security, education, training, and victim services to combat
violence against women on college campuses. It amends the definition
of "domestic violence" to include dating relationships for the purposes
of this program. Matching
Grant Program for School Security - authorizes $30 million
per fiscal year 2001 through 2003 to increase campus security including
metal detectors.
Sec. 1109. Dating Violence
- Creates definition of dating violence and expands STOP grants, Grants
to Encourage Arrest Policies and Rural Grants to cover dating violence.
TITLE
II - Strengthening Services to Victims of Violence
Sec.
1201. Legal Assistance to Victims of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
- Authorized at $40 million/year through 2005 (fiscal year 2000 STOP
grant appropriation included $28 million earmarked for this use). Building
on funds set-aside under past STOP grants, this section authorizes a
separate grant program for civil legal services for protection orders
and family, criminal, immigration, administrative, and housing matters.
This section allows victims of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual
assault to obtain access to trained attorneys and lay advocacy services,
particularly pro bono legal services, when they require legal assistance
as a consequence of violence. These grants support training, technical
assistance, data collection, and support for cooperative efforts between
victim advocacy groups and legal assistance providers. Requires training
for legal service providers to be developed with input from state, local,
or tribal domestic violence or sexual assault program or coalitions;
requires that grantees notify domestic violence programs and coalitions
about their programs. 25% set-aside for projects that focus on providing
legal services to sexual assault survivors. 5% set aside for Tribal
programs. Does not include dating violence.
Sec. 1202. Expanded Shelter for
Battered Women and Their Children - Authorized at $175 million/year
through 2005 (fiscal year 2000
appropriation was $101.5 million). This section reauthorizes
Department of Health and Human Services programs that help communities
provide shelter to battered individuals and their children. Increases
small state minimum to $600,000 per year.
Sec. 1203. Transitional Housing
Assistance for Victims of Domestic Violence - authorized at
$25 million/year for 2001. This section allows the department of health
and human services to make grants providing short-term (generally up
to 12 months with possibility of additional 6 months waiver) housing
assistance and support services to individuals and their dependents
who are homeless, in need of transitional housing or other assistance
as a result of fleeing domestic violence. These services are authorized
when emergency shelter services or unavailable or insufficient.
Sec.
1204. National Domestic Violence Hotline - Authorized at $2
million/year through 2005 (fiscal year 2000 appropriation was$2 million)
This section reauthorizes the National Domestic Violence Hotline established
under the original VAWA.
Sec.
1205. Federal Victims Counselors Grants Reauthorization - Authorized
at $1 million/year through 2005 (fiscal year 1998 appropriation was
$1 million). This section extends programs supporting U.S. Attorney
offices to hire counselors to assist victims and witnesses in prosecution
of domestic violence and sexual assault cases.
Sec.
1206. Study of State Laws Regarding Insurance Discrimination Against
Victims of Violence Against Women - This section requires the
Attorney General to conduct a national study identifying state laws
that address insurance discrimination against victims of domestic violence,
and submit recommendations to Congress based on the findings.
Sec.
1207. Study of Workplace Effects from Violence Against Women
- This section requires the Attorney General to conduct a national survey
of programs demonstrating appropriate workplace responses to victims
of domestic violence or sexual assault, and submit recommendations to
Congress.
Sec. 1208. Study of Unemployment
Compensation For Victims of Violence Against Women - This section
requires the Attorney General to conduct a national study to identify
the impact of state unemployment compensation laws on victims of domestic
violence who are separated from their employment as a direct result
of violence, and submit recommendations to Congress.
Sec.
1209. Enhancing Protections for Older and Disabled Women from Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault - Authorized at $5 million/yr for
2001-2005. Training programs for law enforcement. This section allows
STOP grants, Pro-Arrest grants, and shelter programs to be used to develop,
policies and initiatives that address the needs of older and disabled
individuals who are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.
TITLE
III - Limiting the Effects of Violence on Children
Sec.
1301. Safe Havens for Children Pilot Program - Authorized at
$15 million/year through 2002. This section establishes a pilot Justice
Department grant program aimed at reducing domestic violence during
the transfer of children for visitation by expanding the availability
of supervised visitation and safe visitation exchange for the children
of victims of domestic violence, child abuse, or sexual assault. 5%
set aside to Tribal programs.
Sec. 1302. Reauthorization of
Victims of Child Abuse Programs - Authorized at $12 million/year
for the special advocate program, $2.3 million/year for the judicial
personnel training program, and $1 million/year for televised testimony
through 2005 (fiscal year 2000 appropriations were $10 million, $2.3
million, and $1 million respectively). This section extends grant programs
geared towards assisting children who are victims of abuse, such as
the court-appointed special advocate program, child abuse training for
judicial personnel and practitioners, and grants for the televised testimony
of children.
Sec. 1303. Report on Parental
Kidnapping Laws - Authorized at $200,000 for fiscal year 2001.
This section requires the Attorney General to study the Parental Kidnapping
Act, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act adopted
by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and
custody provisions in protection orders where domestic violence is a
factor, in order to submit recommendations for the modification of child
custody laws. This section also clarifies when emergency jurisdiction
may be granted.
TITLE IV - Strengthening Education
& Training To Combat Violence Against Women
Sec. 1401. Rape Prevention and
Education Program Reauthorization - Authorized at $80 million/year
through 2005 (FY 2000 appropriation was $45 million). This section reauthorizes
the Sexual Assault Education and Prevention Grant program, which includes
education for college students and funding to continue the National
Resource Center on Sexual Assault at the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. Repeals original training program for sex offender probation/parole
officers.
Sec. 1402. Education and Training
to End Violence Against and Abuse of Women with Disabilities
- Authorized at $7.5 million/year through 2005. This section establishes
a new grant program to provide education and technical assistance to
service providers to better meet the needs of disabled individuals who
are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Sec.
1403. Reauthorization of Community Initiatives to Prevent Domestic Violence
- Authorized at $6 million/year through 2005 (FY 2000 appropriation
was $6 million). This section reauthorizes grants for collaborative
community projects targeted towards intervention and the prevention
of domestic violence.
Sec.
1404. Development of Research Agenda Identified under the Violence Against
Women Act of 1994- Authorized at such sums as are necessary.
This section requires the Attorney General, in cooperation with other
organizations, to implement a research agenda based on the recommendations
in the National Academy of Sciences report, "Understanding Violence
Against Women."
Sec. 1405. - Standards practice
and training for sexual assault examinations - evaluates existing
standards of training, practice and payment of forensic examinations
and recommends a national protocol. Authorizes $200,00 for fiscal year
2001.
Sec.
1406. - Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel
- Reauthorizes funding for federal ($500,000 for each year for 2001
through 2005) and state judicial training ($1.5 million each year 2001-2005)
on violence against women; adds a training component regarding domestic
violence and child abuse in custody determinations; adds coverage of
dating violence in training.
Sec.
1407. - Domestic Violence Task Force - creates multiagency
task force to coordinate research on domestic violence and identify
gaps and duplication in research efforts. Authorizes $500,000 per year
for 2001 through 2004.
TITLE
V - BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN -
The Battered Immigrant Women Protection
Act of 2000 continues the work that began with the passage of the first
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994. Prior to VAWA 1994, immigration
laws guaranteed that abusive U.S. citizens and permanent residents had
total control over their spouses' immigration status. As a result, battered
immigrant women and children were forced to remain in abusive relationships,
unable to appeal to law enforcement agencies and courts for protection
because they feared deportation. VAWA 1994 immigration provisions provided
a remedy by allowing battered immigrants to file their own applications
(self-petitions) for immigration relief without the cooperation of their
abusive spouse or parent, enabling them to flee the violence and find
safety. Despite the successes of the immigration provisions of VAWA
1994, subsequent immigration reform bills drastically reduced access
to VAWA immigration relief for battered immigrants. The
Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act of 2000 seeks to restore and
expand access to a variety of legal protections for battered immigrants
so they may flee violent homes, obtain court protection, cooperate in
the criminal prosecution of their abusers, and take control of their
lives without fearing deportation.
Highlights
of the Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act of 2000, S. 2787, Title
V
Ø Improved
Access to VAWA: This section removes the U.S. residency requirement,
granting certain abused wives and children of U.S. citizens and lawful
permanent residents who are U.S. government employees or members of
the U.S. Uniformed Services residing abroad access to VAWA protection.
This section also deletes the extreme hardship requirement, which impedes
access to VAWA for many unrepresented victims. It allows children, who
are included in their mother's VAWA petition when they are under twenty-one,
to receive their green cards, along with their mother, after turning
twenty-one. VAWA self-petitioning will also be available to victims
who file within two years after divorce from, death (U.S. citizen only)
of, or loss of legal immigration status of their abusive U.S. citizen
or permanent resident spouse or parent. Additionally, abuse victims
divorced from U.S. citizens will now be afforded the opportunity to
naturalize after three years of permanent residence, as opposed to the
current five-year wait. Children of parents awarded cancellation will
be granted parole until green cards become available for them.
Ø Good
Moral Character: This section creates a discretionary waiver
for good moral character determinations for VAWA applicants in cases
where the Attorney General finds that the act or conviction was connected
to the abuse.
Ø Improved
Access to VAWA Status in Immigration Proceedings (Cancellation of Removal):
This section expands access to VAWA cancellation of removal proceedings
to spouses married to bigamists. Once a battered immigrant is awarded
cancellation, their children, or the parent in the case of a battered
immigrant child, can be granted parole to protect them while their family-based
visa petition is pending.
Ø Equal
Access to VAWA Immigration Protections: This section restores
access to VAWA protections for otherwise eligible battered women and
children without regard to how they entered the U.S. This section grants
the Attorney General discretion to waive certain bars to immigration
relief and grounds of removal for qualified VAWA applicants. Waivers
that are available for otherwise qualified battered immigrants include:
those who acted in self-defense; those who were convicted of a violation
of a protection order issued to protect them, or when there is a connection
between the crime and abuse; and those who suffer from HIV or TB. This
section also ensures that any public benefits authorized under §501
of IIRAIRA the battered immigrant receives will not be considered by
the INS or consular officials when making a public charge determination.
Ø VAWA
Restoration Act: This section allows battered immigrant women
and children to obtain lawful permanent resident status without leaving
the U.S. Under current immigration laws, many battered immigrants will
be forced to leave the U.S. to obtain their lawful permanent residence.
Traveling outside the U.S. deprives these women of the protection provided
by U.S. courts, legislation, custody decrees, and law enforcement agencies.
This section allows battered immigrant women served with a notice to
appear before they were in the U.S. for more than three years who have
now been physically present for more than three years. Additionally,
this section allows battered immigrants to file motions to reopen their
immigration case up to one year beyond the ninety-day limitation.
Ø Problems
with VAWA Implementation: This section ensures that changes
in the abuser's citizenship or immigration status will have either a
positive effect or no effect at all on a battered immigrant woman's
application for immigration relief. Likewise, the abuser's deportation
or death (of a U.S.-citizen spouse) will not bar the battered immigrant
from applying for relief. Additionally, this section revokes the current
prohibition on remarriage by allowing battered immigrants to remarry
even before they receive their green cards once their VAWA self-petitions
are approved.
Ø Nicaraguan
and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), Haitian Refugee Immigration
Fairness Act, and Cuban Adjustment: Under these provisions,
battered spouses and children of NACARA petitioners, HRIFA petitioners
and Cuban Adjustment applicants may self-petition for relief. Moreover,
this legislation removes the requirement that battered immigrant spouses
and children of Cuban Adjustment applicants must be living with the
Cuban Adjustment applicant at the time of filing.
Ø Access
to Shelter Services and Legal Representation: This section
clarifies that VAWA and other domestic violence grant funds may be used
for legal and social services assistance for battered immigrant women,
including assistance in VAWA immigration cases. The grant programs addressed
are: STOP, Grants to Encourage Arrest, Rural VAWA Grants, Civil Legal
Assistance, and Campus Grants. This section also allows programs serving
battered immigrants, prosecutors, or police to apply for STOP funding
for a project that would train INS officers and/or immigration judges
on the dynamics of domestic violence in immigrant families and the legal
rights of battered immigrants.
Ø
Protection for Certain
Crime Victims Including Victims of Crimes Against Women: This
section creates a new nonimmigrant visa for victims of certain serious
crimes that tend to target vulnerable foreign individuals without immigration
status if the victim has suffered substantial physical or mental abuse
as a result of the crime, the victim has information about the crime,
and a law enforcement official or a judge certifies that the victim
has been helpful, is being helpful, or is likely to be helpful in investigating
or prosecuting the crime. The crime must involve rape, torture, trafficking,
incest, sexual assault, domestic violence, abusive sexual contact, prostitution,
sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, being held hostage,
peonage, involuntary servitude, slave trade, kidnapping, abduction,
unlawful criminal restraint, false imprisonment, blackmail, extortion,
manslaughter, murder, felonious assault, witness tampering, obstruction
of justice, perjury, attempt or conspiracy to commit any of the above,
or other similar conduct in violation of Federal, State, or local criminal
law. Caps visas at 10,000 per fiscal year. Allows Attorney General to
adjust these individuals to lawful permanent resident status if the
alien has been present for 3 years and the Attorney General determines
this is justified on humanitarian grounds, to promote family unity,
or is otherwise in the public interest.
Title
VI - Miscellaneous -
Sec. 1601. Notice Requirements
for Sexually Violence Offenders - Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act
- This section requires offenders to notify states (and states to notify
local law enforcement) if registered sex offenders are enrolled or employed
in a college/ university. The campus community shall be informed where
such information can be obtained.
Sec.
1602. Teen Suicide Prevention Study.
Authorizes such sums as are necessary.
This section requires the Secretary of HHS to carry out a study to identify
predictors of suicide among at-risk teens and the barriers that prevent
them from receiving treatment.
Sec. 1603. - Decade of Pain Control
and Research - Declares decade beginning January 1, 2001 as
the "decade of pain control and research."