Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Survivors’ Bill of Rights in the States Act of 2019”.
Survivors’ Bill of Rights in the States Act of 2019
A BILL
To direct the Attorney General to make grants to States that have in place a law providing for the rights of sexual assault survivors, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Incentives for States to create sexual assault survivors' bill of rights
In general— The Attorney General shall make grants to States that have in place a law that provides to sexual assault survivors the rights, at a minimum, under section 3772 of title 18, United States Code.
Grant amount— Subject to the availability of appropriations, a grant to a State under this section shall be equal to 10 percent of the average of the amount of funding of the 3 most recent awards that the State received under part T of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10441 et seq.) (commonly referred to as the “STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program”).
Application— A State seeking a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Attorney General at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Attorney General may reasonably require, including information about the law described in subsection (a).
Uses of funds— A State receiving a grant under this section may use such funds to—
implement the rights provided for under the law described in subsection (a);
provide assistance to victim service providers, victim assistants, and victim advocates to provide victim services (as such terms are defined in section 40002 of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291));
reduce the number of backlogged sexual assault kits or stored kits which victims have consented to test; or
preserve sexual assault evidence collection kits or the probative contents of such kits.
Authorization of appropriations— There is authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 to 2025 to carry out this section.