Bipartisan VAWA Reauthorization Bill Introduced in Senate
This week, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization Act. The bill, which would reauthorize VAWA through 2027, preserves advancements made in previous reauthorizations and includes several additional improvements to the current law. The bill would expand prevention efforts and protections for survivors, including those from underserved communities, and will provide increased resources and training for law enforcement and the judicial system. It will strengthen rape prevention and education efforts, support rape crisis centers, improve the training of sexual assault forensic examiners, and broaden access to legal services for all survivors, among other things. Key provisions of the bill include:
- Provides services, protection and justice for young victims of violence, including extending the Rape Prevention and Education grant program and improving grants focused on prevention education for students in institutions of higher education.
- Enhances judicial and law enforcement tools through reauthorization of the Justice Department’s STOP Violence Against Women Formula Program, known as the STOP Program, and expansion of the STOP Program to better support survivors who are 50 years of age or older and survivors with disabilities.
- Reauthorizes and updates the SMART Prevention Program to reduce dating violence, help children who have been exposed to domestic violence, and engage men in preventing violence.
- Provides economic security assistance for survivors by reauthorizing the National Resource Center on Workplace Response. Expands the program to support sexual harassment victims and ensure that the program’s resources are available to private-sector businesses with fewer than 20 employees in addition to public-sector entities.
- Improves the medical response to instances of domestic violence and sexual assault, including expanding access to medical forensic examinations after a sexual assault for survivors who live in rural communities.
- Protects Indian women by improving tribal access to federal crime information databases and clarifying the existence of tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence, sexual violence, sex trafficking and stalking that takes place on tribal lands.
- Authorizes a grant program to provide community-specific services for LGBT survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Directs the Office on Violence Against Women to provide technical assistance and training to victim service providers and organizations that are seeking to work with survivors.
The bill is expected to move through the Senate swiftly, having been previously reauthorized under both Democrats and Republicans majorities. The House had already passed a renewal of the bill last year. NAHMA supports this legislation and will closely monitor its progress.
To view a section-by-section of the bill, click here.
To view the full bill text, click here.
Congress Seeks to Avert Shutdown
The House of Representatives voted this week to pass a short-term government funding bill to avert a shutdown at the end of next week. Funding is currently set to expire on February 18, but the measure the House approved would extend funding through March 11. The tally was 272-162 and the legislation passed with bipartisan support. The Senate next needs to approve it before it can be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Senate Democrats are seeking to finally override the funding levels carried over from the spending package signed into law in the last weeks of the Trump presidency. There is bipartisan agreement that a broader funding deal is necessary as well as bipartisan concern over the limitations imposed on federal agencies if the government is forced to continue operating under stopgap funding measures, which is especially crucial given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Members will continue to negotiate to secure a full-year funding agreement before the new March 11 deadline. “While negotiations on a full year funding agreement continue, we will, in the meantime, avoid a pointless and costly government shutdown, and the stopgap bill provides a little more time to reach a deal for a spending package,” Senator Schumer said. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also said he is optimistic that Democrats and Republicans are getting closer to reaching a funding deal agreement, and that it can be put on the House floor for a vote as soon as the week of March 7.
Senate Hearing Examines Role of Institutional Landlords in Housing
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs this week held a hearing titled “How Institutional Landlords are Changing the Housing Market.” Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), held the hearing to examine the impact of institutional investors in low-income housing. Testimony provided to the committee described how institutional landlords increase their profits and reduce costs by refusing to perform needed repairs, basic maintenance, security, or needed health and safety measures and often seek profit through ever-increasing rents and abusive or predatory fees. Chairman Brown stated during the hearing that at the end of the third quarter of 2021, investors bought a record 90,000 single-family homes – an 80% increase over the previous year. “One of the reasons housing prices have gotten so out of control is that corporate America sensed an opportunity,” Sen. Brown said during the hearing, highlighting that the median sales price for a home rose 17% last year and the cost of rent has also gone up by approximately 14%. Testimony was provided to the committee by renters from across the country who described the impact of private equity firms impact and other corporate landlords investing in residential housing acquisitions. Witnesses described unjust evictions, rent increases, and other quality of life complaints. Sally Martin, Director of Building and Housing for the City of Cleveland, testified that she’s seeing more renters get pushed out of month-to-month leases as new investors enter the market. Ranking member of the Banking Committee, Sen. Pat Toomey, said he understood that the scrutiny on institutional landlords is likely to continue, but those investment firms represent a small share of the market and that President Biden’s approach to the economy is at fault. “Instead of blaming those who actually build housing stock, we should probably take a look at the role those Democratic policies have contributed to the high cost of housing,” Sen. Toomey said during the hearing. Another witness, Joel Griffith, a Research Fellow for the Heritage Foundation, testified that institutional owners of rental properties are being scapegoated for the rise in home prices and rental costs.
To view the full Senate hearing, click here.