House budget bill includes $1.9 milliondomestic violence fundingincrease *

$1.9 million federal funding increase for domestic violence services
included in Department of Social Services budget bill


 Appropriations Overview:  House budget bills filed on 2-14-13


·         Increased funding for domestic violence services included
in Department of Social Services


·         Level funding for VOCA and STOP grants, reduction in SSVF
grant funding in Department of Public Safety


·         Level funding for Rape Prevention and Education grants in
Department of Health and Senior Services


 The budget bills for the coming fiscal year were filed on Thursday,
2-14-13, by the House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Stream
(R-Kirkwood).  An increase of $1.9 million in federal funds for
domestic violence services was included in House Bill 11, the Fiscal
Year 2014 budget for the Department of Social Services. The funding
increase is a budget priority first proposed by Governor Jay Nixon in
his budget for the state fiscal year that begins July 1, 2013.


 The appropriations bills, as filed by Rep. Stream, do not contain nearly
$1 billion in federal funds for Medicaid expansion and subsequently do not
distribute state funding savings throughout the budget as was proposed by
Gov. Nixon.


 ·         Link here to view bills under the Joint Information menu, then
Joint Bill information tab on the Missouri General Assembly website (
www.moga.mo.gov).


 Primary budget bills of interest to MCADSV members


Below are the primary appropriations bills of interest to MCADSV and its
members:


 ·         House Bill 11 :Department of Social Services (DSS)


This bill contains the $1.9 million increase in federal funding for
domestic violence services in the Family Support Division of DSS. These
federal dollars are drawn from the state's block grant of  Temporary
Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds. HB 11 provides state funding for
domestic violence services at $4.75 million,  federal funding of $3,716,524
(includes the increase), for a total of $8,466,524 for FY2014.


 ·         House Bill 8 : Department of Public Safety (DPS)


This bill does not make any funding changes to two grant programs in DPS:
Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants remain at $7.5 million in federal funds;
and Services, Training, Officers and Prosecution (STOP) grants remain at
$2.49 million in federal funds, which includes Sexual Assault Services
Program (SASP) grants. There is a $1 million reduction from current funding
in the line item for the State Services to Victims Fund (SSVF) grants, for
a total of $4 million. The SSVF grant reduction reflects a reduced
collection of crime fines, which are the source of the grant funds. The
Crime Victims Compensation funding, which includes the Sexual Assault
Forensic Examination (SAFE) program, also was reduced by $1 million for a
total of $9.83 million.


 ·         House Bill 10: Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS)
and Department of Mental Health (DMH)


This bill retains current funding for the Rape Prevention and Education
(RPE) grants at $889,134. This includes a small amount of federal funding
for sexual assault services grants.


 ·         House Bill 9:  Department of Corrections (DOC)


Funding to implement the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) is not
broken out as a specific line item in HB 9, but that detailed budget
information should be available in the coming weeks.


 Next Steps: MCADSV will continue to alert members to needed actions on
appropriations


House appropriations committees for each state department will make their
recommendations during the week of February 18 for any budget changes in
appropriations bills filed by Rep. Stream. Those amendments will be
reviewed and voted on by the full House Budget Committee. Bills passed by
the House Budget Committee then proceed to the full House for floor debate
and passage. Appropriations bills move next to the Senate for its
Appropriations Committee review, amendment and passage prior to full Senate
debate. The final state budget must be passed in the exact form by both the
House and the Senate by May 10, 2013.


 The February edition of The MCADSV Legislative Update soon will be sent to
members with full details on legislation, and needed advocacy with
lawmakers, to address rape and domestic violence.


 Hope this state budget news gets your weekend off to a good start!


Atara of Sound the Alarm Outreach/STAO Radio