Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07) voted to passed H.R. 1620, the bipartisan, long-term Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021.

“The Violence Against Women Act is lifesaving legislation that maintains the safety, resources, and protections critical to domestic violence survivors, particularly for women of color,” said Rep. Terri Sewell. “Since this legislation was first enacted in 1994, the rate of domestic violence in America has been cut in half.  But given that 1 in 3 women still experience domestic violence and that the coronavirus crisis has forced many women to quarantine in unsafe domestic situations, the reauthorization of this bill is needed now more than ever.”

“Reauthorization of this bill will strengthen protections for victims and survivors of domestic violence. It is my hope the Senate will pass this bill to make vital improvements to address gaps in current law based on extensive consultation with victim service providers, law enforcement, and other experts,” continued Sewell.  

H.R. 1620 improves current law in several important respects, including the following:

The bill makes vital new investments in prevention: 

• Increases the authorization for the Rape Prevention & Education Program (RPE) to $110 million a year from $50 million a year and specifically includes prevention of sexual harassment to its authorized uses.  
• Increases funding for VAWA Consolidated Youth Grants.  These grants fund prevention education programs that engage men and boys as allies and promote healthy relationships and that are key to reducing gender-based violence.  

The bill improves services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking: 

• Reauthorizes for fiscal years 2022 to 2026, key grants for programs providing services to the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
• Increases the authorization for the Sexual Assault Services Program to $60 million to address increased demand and waiting lists for services.
• Authorizes funding for culturally specific organizations to provide victim services in Communities of Color.
• Increases the authorization for Legal Assistance for Victims

The bill includes provisions to improve the criminal justice response to gender-based violence, in order to make our communities safer: 

• Reauthorizes the critical STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) grants and allows the grants to be used to develop law enforcement tools and protocols for preventing domestic violence homicides.

The bill improves access to housing for survivors and victims: 

• Strengthens the enforcement of housing rights for survivors and victims.
• Creates a Violence Against Women Director at HUD who is tasked with the work of enforcing housing rights for survivors and victims.
• Increases survivors’ options to maintain housing or break their leases.

The bill supports survivors who need assistance rebuilding financially: 

• Increases the authorization for the National Resource Center on Workplace Responses, which assists the victims of domestic and sexual violence.
• Protects employees from being fired because they are survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence.
• Provides that state unemployment compensation shall not be denied to an individual who voluntarily separates from employment if such separation is attributable to them being a victim of sexual or other harassment, or a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

The bill improves the health care system’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking: 

• Broadens the reach of grants to develop services to address the safety, medical, and mental health needs of survivors, while maintaining the grants’ local focus on providing funds to state domestic and sexual violence coalitions.

The bill supports Communities of Color, including:  

• Increasing access to grant programs for culturally specific organizations and ensuring culturally specific organizations are included in the development and implementation of service, education, training, and other grants.
• Establishing a Deputy Director of Culturally Specific Communities in the Office on Violence Against Women and substantially increasing authorized funding for culturally specific organizations.
• Ensuring meaningful involvement of culturally specific organizations in the Rape Prevention & Education (RPE) grant-making process.
• In providing training for health care providers to better recognize and respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, requiring that the training includes prevention and cultural competence, is culturally relevant, addresses systemic racism and equity, and includes the impact of inter-generational violence.

Finally, the bill protects victims of dating violence from firearm homicide by closing loopholes in current firearms laws.  

• Updates the definition of  “intimate partner” to include dating partner and former dating partner, thereby closing a loophole that allowed adjudicated dating abusers to possess firearms.
• Prohibits persons convicted of stalking misdemeanors from possessing firearms.
• Expands the current law that already prohibits those subject to most domestic violence protective orders from possessing a firearm to also include those subject to “ex parte”  protective orders (also called ‘emergency’ or ‘temporary’ protective orders), but not until the notice and an opportunity to be heard have been provided to the respondent.