Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019
A BILL
To reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Universal definitions and grant conditions
in subsection (a)—
by striking “In this title” and inserting “In this title, for the purpose of grants authorized under this title ”;
by redesignating paragraphs (12) through (45) as paragraphs (15) through (48), respectively;
by redesignating paragraph (11) as paragraph (12);
by redesignating paragraph (8) as paragraph (11) and moving it to appear before paragraph (12), as so redesignated;
by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs (7) and (8), respectively;
by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (6) and moving it to appear before paragraph (7), as so redesignated;
by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2);
by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (3) and moving it to appear after paragraph (2), as so redesignated;
by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
“(5) Court-based personnel; court-related personnel—The terms court-based personnel and court-related personnel mean individuals working in the court, whether paid or volunteer, including—
“(A) clerks, special masters, domestic relations officers, administrators, mediators, custody evaluators, guardians ad litem, lawyers, negotiators, probation, parole, interpreters, victim assistants, victim advocates, and judicial, administrative, or any other professionals or personnel similarly involved in the legal process;
“(B) court security personnel;
“(C) personnel working in related, supplementary offices or programs (such as child support enforcement); and
“(D) any other court-based or community based personnel having responsibilities or authority to address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in the court system.”
in paragraph (11), as so redesignated, by striking “includes felony” and all that follows through “jurisdiction.” and inserting the following:
“(A) is a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, or person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim;
“(B) is cohabitating, or has cohabitated, with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner;
“(C) shares a child in common with the victim;
“(D) is an adult family member of, or paid or nonpaid caregiver, in an ongoing relationship of trust, with a victim 50 years of age or older or an adult victim with disabilities; or
“(E) commits acts against a youth or adult victim who is protected from those acts under the family or domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction.”
by inserting after paragraph (12), as so redesignated, the following:
“(13) Female genital mutilation or cutting—The term female genital mutilation or cutting means intentionally circumcising, excising, infibulating the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris, or in any way causing bodily injury (as defined in section 1365 of title 18, United States Code) to the female genitalia for non-medical reasons.
“(14) Forced marriage—The term forced marriage means a marriage to which 1 or both parties do not or cannot consent, and in which 1 or more elements of force, fraud, or coercion is present. Forced marriage can be both a cause and a consequence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking.”
by striking paragraph (32), as so redesignated, and inserting the following:
“(32) Sexual assault—The term sexual assault—
“(A) means any non-consensual sexual act proscribed by Federal, Tribal or State law, including when the victim lacks capacity to consent; and
“(B) includes sex trafficking described in section 103(11)(A) of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.”
in subsection (b)—
in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following:
“(H) Death of the party whose privacy had been protected—In the event of the death of any victim whose confidentiality and privacy is required to be protected under this subsection, grantees and subgrantees may share personally identifying information or individual information that is collected about deceased victims being sought for a fatality review to the extent permitted by their jurisdiction’s law and only if the following conditions are met:
“(i) The underlying objectives of the fatality review are to prevent future deaths, enhance victim safety, and increase offender accountability.
“(ii) The fatality review includes policies and protocols to protect identifying information, including identifying information about the victim’s children, from further release outside the fatality review team.
“(iii) The grantee or subgrantee makes a reasonable effort to get a release from the victim’s personal representative (if one has been appointed) and from any surviving minor children or the guardian of such children (but not if the guardian is the abuser of the deceased parent), if the children are not capable of knowingly consenting.
“(iv) The information released is limited to that which is necessary for the purposes of the fatality review.”
in paragraph (11), by adding at the end the following: “The Office on Violence Against Women shall make all technical assistance available as broadly as possible to any appropriate grantees, subgrantees, potential grantees, or other entities without regard to whether the entity has received funding from the Office on Violence Against Women for a particular program or project, with priority given to current and former grantees and subgrantees.”;
in paragraph (13), by striking subparagraph (D) and inserting the following:
“(D) Construction—Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed, interpreted, or applied—
“(i) to supplant, displace, preempt, or otherwise diminish the responsibilities and liabilities under other State or Federal civil rights law, whether statutory or common; or
“(ii) to affect the otherwise lawful employment practices of any organization under Federal law.”
in paragraph (14), by inserting before the period at the end the following: “ or other forms of gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation or cutting, forced marriage, and honor violence. For individuals who are 0 to 18 years of age and are victims of sexual assault, victim-centered services shall, to the extent practicable, be coordinated with services specified in section 212 of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (34 U.S.C. 20302). If such an organization is not available, services shall, to the extent practicable, be delivered in partnership with multidisciplinary teams.”; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(17) Innovation fund—Of the amounts appropriated to carry out this title, not more than 1 percent shall be made available for pilot projects, demonstration projects, and special initiatives designed to improve Federal, State, local, Tribal, and other community responses to violence against women and girls.”
Grant accountability— Section 40002(b)(16) of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(b)(16)) shall apply to this Act and any grant program authorized under this Act.