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Please spend two minutes to contact Congress to ask for their support to increase the VOCA Cap

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November 16, 2022

Please spend two minutes to contact Congress for their support to increase the VOCA Cap

NEWS

Seattle, Wash. –  The Crime Victims Fund (CVF) was established by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) of 1984 and is administered by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime. The Fund is financed by the collection of federal crime fines, forfeitures and special assessments rather than taxpayer dollars. The Fund helps an average of 3.7 million victims of all types of crime every year.

The Fund is used to provide crime victim assistance grants in every state, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories. States, in turn, provide subgrants to community-based organizations and public agencies that provide services directly to victims. Court Appointed Special Advocate and Guardian ad Litem (CASA/GAL) state organizations and local programs across the country benefit from over $90 million in VOCA dollars annually.

In recent years deposits to the CVF have decreased dramatically which in turn has diminished VOCA funds made available to states; many of which are passed through to CASA/GAL organizations. The dollars deposited to the CVF have decreased due to less federal fines and fees that fund the CVF and VOCA.

The proposed funding cap for the CVF, which funds VOCA, may be significantly lower for FY2023. The cap took a significant cut from $4.4B in FY2018 to $3.5B in FY2019. In FY2020 the cap was set at $2.541B and dropped to $2.015B in FY2021 followed by an increase in the cap to $2.6B in FY2022.

For FY2023, the President included a $1.75B cap to VOCA in his budget. The House followed with a $2.05B cap. It was expected that the Senate would come out with a higher number, however, they have a $1.75B cap for VOCA in their budget bill.

Such cuts in the VOCA cap could significantly impact funding to CASA/GAL state organizations and local programs and ultimately children in need.

Please take two minutes to contact your members of Congress now and ask for their support for increasing the VOCA cap for FY2023.  We encourage you to share this Action Alert within your circle of influence in order to generate significant contact with members of the House and Senate who will act on the amount of the VOCA cap in the coming weeks. Thank you!