2009 VOCA Assistance Funding In 2000,
Congress started capping annual obligations from the Fund to
ensure “stable
funding” in
future years. Yet, despite huge balances in this non-taxpayer
Fund, VOCA assistance grants have actually been cut by $87 million
(22 percent) since 2006. This was because 1) the cost for other
VOCA programs increased; 2) in 2008 Congress lowered the cap; and
3)
the Office of Justice Programs began charging the Crime Victims
Fund for management and administrative costs. As a result, programs
have cut services, shortened hours, reduced caseloads, laid off
staff and, in some instances, closed their doors.
Victim advocates have been working to restore
these grants to the same amount awarded in 2006 and Congress
appears to be heading
in the right direction:
On June 19, the Senate Appropriations
Committee reported out its 2009 appropriations bill for the
Department of Justice including a VOCA cap of $635 million. That
is $45 million more than the 2008 cap.
On June 25, the House Appropriations
Committee approved its bill with the VOCA cap set at $650
million. In
addition, the House bill includes a separate appropriation
for management and administration, a cost that
was taken from the Crime Victims Fund for the first time
in 2008.
Both Committees again expressly rejected
the Administration's attempts to remove the entire balance
in the Crime Victims Fund that would be necessary to support
victim programs in subsequent fiscal years.
Both Committees refused the Administration's
request to include the $50 million Antiterrorism Emergency
Reserve "under the cap."
These are all important, positive steps and
victim advocates are grateful to Congressional appropriators
for responding to the needs of crime victims. However,
we remain committed to seeking a full restoration of
funding for VOCA assistance
grants to at least the same dollar amount awarded in
2006. This is a reasonable, modest goal.
Restoration to 2006 funding does not include
the increased resources needed to meet the needs of more
crime victims or even help local victim service providers
pay for higher operating costs, such as utilities, postage,
gasoline, or staff cost of living.
According to the Office of Management and
Budget, the Crime Victims Fund will have a 2009 opening balance
of $1.9 billion and will collect an additional
$710 million during 2009. Thus, there is more than
enough non-taxpayer funds available to restore VOCA
funding in 2009 and to maintain stable victim assistance
funding for many years to come.
Under the Senate bill, 2009 VOCA assistance
grants would still be some $52 million less than
they received in 2006.
Because the House bill includes a larger VOCA
cap and directly funds Office of Justice Programs management
costs, the House bill is $8.2 million
short of full restoration of assistance grantsl.
Both bills now go to the floor of their respective
chambers for final action although that is unlikely to happen
until after the November elections. Thus, there is still
time to make even further improvements in the final appropriations
for 2009. VOCA supporters are encouraged to continue
explaining to their Senators and Representatives why VOCA is
so important and why they should help restore full funding.
A $660 million VOCA cap without OJP management
costs
will restore VOCA assistance grants
2008 VOCA Assistance Funding After
months of delay, the Office of Justice Programs, through the
Office for Victims of Crime, have released
the final amounts of the 2008 state VOCA victim assistance
formula grants. Because of the reduction of the 2008
VOCA cap to $590 million and the new imposition of management
and administrative
costs to the Crime Victims Fund, the amount available for state
VOCA assistance grants were reduced by $61.5 million -- 16.6
percent -- compared to 2007.
The new management and administrative assessment
will also severely affect the availability of important training
and technical assistance to the crime victims field and services
to victims of Federal crimes through OVC discretionary grants. The
funds available for these purposes, which includes professional
development scholarships and conference support grants, have
been cut by 30 percent in 2008.
The Crime Victim Fund helps millions of victims of all types
of crime every year.
The Fund comes from the collection of Federal criminal
fines; not taxpayer revenues.
Although the VOCA statute requires that all amounts deposited into the Fund be used to support victim
services, since FY 2000 Congress has delayed spending Fund
amounts in order to stablize future funding.
Congress has repeatedly insisted that all amounts deposited
into the Fund would remain available for victim services.
Since FY 2006, the Administration
has attempted to rescind approximately $1.3
billion - $2 billion from the
Crime
Victims Fund; that means there would be no funds available
to support
any of
the Fund’s victim services
at the start of the subsequent fiscal year..
Background: The Victims of Crime Act of 1984
is the Federal government's principle means of providing support
for programs that serve victims of all types of crime. Each year,
Federal criminal fines, forfeitures and special assessments are
deposited
into the Crime Victims Fund (the Fund). These offender generated
revenues -- NOT TAXPAYER DOLLARS -- are used to
support these programs:
Children’s Justice Act -- to improve
the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases;
U.S. Attorney’s victim/witness coordinators -- to provide assistance to victims involved in Federal criminal
prosecutions;
F.B.I. victim assistance
specialists-- to help victims during Federal criminal investigations;
Federal victim notification system -- to provide
automated notification to victims of the status of Federal
criminal investigations and prosecutions and the offender's
status in the Federal prison system;
OVC discretionary grants -- to support national
scope training and technical assistance and to provide services
to victims of Federal crimes;
State compensation formula
grants -- to supplement State funds used to reimburse victims
of violent crimes for medical expenses, mental health counseling,
lost wages, loss of support and funeral/burial costs;
State victim assistance formula grants --
to support direct victim assistance services
-- such as counseling, emergency shelter, rape crisis centers,
help in participating in the criminal justice system.
Approximately 3.8 million crime victims receive these services
by 4,400 agencies annually;
Antiterrorism Emergency
Reserve -- to replenish a special reserve
to assist victims of domestic and international terrorism
and mass violence. The needs for this reserve is demonstrated
by Minnesota's request for supplemental compensation funding
in response to the Red Lake, MN school shooting
OJP Offices -
beginning in FY 2007, two newly created offices in the Office
of Justice Programs may each reserve up to 3 percent from
OJP grant programs.
OJP Management and Administration -
for the first time in 2008, the Office of Justice Programs
began assessing the Crime Victims Fund for a portion of its
overall management and administrtive costs.
Prior to FY 2000, all of the money deposited
into the Crime Victims Fund
from the collection of Federal criminal fines, forfeitures
and assessments,
was allocated
the
following
fiscal year according to a
formula in the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) statute. Because
of
wide fluctuations
in the amount
deposited,
beginning in FY 2000, Congress
began imposing a limitation or "cap" on the amount
of Fund deposits that could be obligated the following
year.
Fiscal Year
Prv. Yr. Deposits
Cap
2000
$985,185,354
$500,000,000
2001
776,954,858
537,500,000
2002
544,437,015
550,000,000
2003
519,466,480
600,000,000
2004
361,341,967
621,312,500*
2005
833,695,013
620,000,000*
2006
668,268,054
625,000,000
2007
649,631,046
625,000,000
* Includes rescissions.
Congress said it was delaying use of the
deposits above the cap in order "to protect against wide
fluctuations in receipts into the Fund, and to ensure that
a stable level
of
funding will remain available for these programs in future
years." [Conference Report 106-479] Congress also
amended the VOCA statute to
reflect the preservation of all deposits for future VOCA programs.
It is essential that crime
victims and victim advocates
let Congress know NOW how important VOCA is,
what the impact of cutting VOCA funding will have on your
community and urge them to restore VOCA funding.
Contact
your Representative and Senators
Call,
email or fax your Congressional delegation and urge them
to restore VOCA funding. Find
out how to contact your Senator and Representatives (often
just by entering your zip code) by going to these web sites:
