Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013

Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013
Full title	To reauthorize subtitle A of the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990.
Introduced in	113th United States Congress
Introduced on	December 11, 2013
Sponsored by	Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D, DE) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R, MO)
Number of co-sponsors	3
Citations
Public Law	Pub.L. 113–163
Effects and codifications
U.S.C. section(s) affected	42 U.S.C. § 13001 et seq., 42 U.S.C. § 13004
Agencies affected	United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, United States Department of Justice
Authorizations of appropriations	$20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018
Legislative history
	Introduced in the Senate as S. 1799 by Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D, DE) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R, MO) on December 11, 2013 ; Committee consideration by: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary ; Passed the Senate on June 26, 2014 (unanimous consent) ; Passed the House on July 28, 2014 (voice vote) ; Signed into law by President Barack Obama on August 8, 2014;

Last updated April 14, 2019

The Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013 (S. 1799; Pub.L. 113–163) is a bill that would reauthorize the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 and would authorize funding through 2018 to help child abuse victims.^[1] The funding is directed to Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs).^[2]

Child abuse or child maltreatment is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to act by a parent or a caregiver that results in actual or potential harm to a child, and can occur in a child's home, or in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with.

The One Hundred Thirteenth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives based on the results of the 2012 Senate elections and the 2012 House elections. The seats in the House were apportioned based on the 2010 United States Census. It first met in Washington, D.C. on January 3, 2013, and it ended on January 3, 2015. Senators elected to regular terms in 2008 were in the last two years of those terms during this Congress.

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to be elected to the presidency. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008.

Background

According to the National Children's Alliance, Child Advocacy Centers "employ a multi-disciplinary team of trained professionals to conduct forensic interviews of children who have been victims of abuse. These interviews are designed to be admissible in court, preventing children from being re-traumatized by having to tell their stories multiple times."^[3] The organization also reported that in 2012, "more than 286,000 children were served at over 800 Child Advocacy Centers across the United States, with over 197,000 cases reporting sexual abuse."

Provisions of the bill

This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Research Service, a public domain source.^[4]

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), known as Congress's think tank, is a public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works primarily and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis.

The public domain consists of all the creative works to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.

The Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013 would amend the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to authorize appropriations for FY2014-FY2018 for: (1) the children's advocacy program; (2) grants from the Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to develop and implement multidisciplinary child abuse investigation and prosecution programs; and (3) grants to national organizations to provide technical assistance and training to attorneys and others instrumental to the criminal prosecution of child abuse cases in state or federal courts, for the purpose of improving the quality of criminal prosecution of such cases.^[4]

An authorization bill is a type of legislation used in the United States to authorize the activities of the various agencies and programs that are part of the federal government of the United States. Authorizing such programs is one of the powers of the United States Congress. Authorizations give those things the legal power to operate and exist. Authorization bills must be passed in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate before being signed by the President of the United States in order to become law. They may originate in either chamber of Congress, unlike revenue raising bills, which must originate in the House. They can also be considered at any time during the year.

In the United States Congress, an appropriations bill is legislation to appropriate federal funds to specific federal government departments, agencies and programs. The money provides funding for operations, personnel, equipment and activities. Regular appropriations bills are passed annually, with the funding they provide covering one fiscal year. The fiscal year is the accounting period of the federal government, which runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year. Appropriations bills are under the jurisdiction of the United States House Committee on Appropriations and the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. Both Committees have twelve matching subcommittees, each tasked with working on one of the twelve annual regular appropriations bills.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is an office of the United States Department of Justice and a component of the Office of Justice Programs. The OJJDP publishes the JRFC Databook on even numbered years for information on youth detention.

The bill would direct the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct audits of grant recipients to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees. Defines an "unresolved audit finding" as a finding in the final audit report of the Inspector General that the audited grantee has utilized grant funds for an unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallowable cost and that is not closed or resolved within 12 months from the date when the final audit report is issued and any appeal has been completed. Directs the Administrator to give priority for grants to eligible entities that did not have an unresolved audit finding during the three fiscal years prior to submitting an application for a grant. Disqualifies a grant recipient that is found to have an unresolved audit finding from receiving grant funds during the following two fiscal years. Directs the Administrator, if an entity is awarded grant funds during the two-fiscal-year period in which the entity is barred from receiving grants, to: (1) deposit an amount equal to the funds that were improperly awarded into the General Fund of the Treasury, and (2) seek to recoup the costs of the repayment to the fund from such entity.^[4]

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Justice (DOJ) is the Office of the Inspector General specific to the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for conducting nearly all of the investigations of DOJ employees and programs. The office has several hundred employees, reporting to the Inspector General. Michael E. Horowitz has held the post since 2012.

The bill would prohibit the Administrator from awarding a grant to a nonprofit organization that holds money in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax on unrelated business income.^[4]

The bill would require each nonprofit organization awarded a grant that uses prescribed procedures to create a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness for the compensation of its officers, directors, trustees and key employees to disclose to the Administrator in the grant application the process for determining such compensation, the comparability data used, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision.^[4]

The bill would prohibit amounts authorized to be appropriated to DOJ from being used by the Administrator, or by any individual or organization awarded discretionary funds through a cooperative agreement, to host or support any expenditure for conferences that uses more than $20,000 in DOJ funds, without prior written authorization by the Deputy Attorney General or other specified officials.^[4]

The bill would direct the Deputy Attorney General to submit an annual report to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on all approved conference expenditures.^[4]

Procedural history

The Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013 was introduced into the United States Senate on December 11, 2013 by Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D, DE) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R, MO). ^[5] The bill was referred to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The Senate voted to pass the bill with an amendment by unanimous consent on June 26, 2014.^[5]^[1] The United States House of Representatives voted on July 28, 2014 to pass the bill in a voice vote. President Barack Obama signed it into law on August 8, 2014.

Debate and discussion

The bill was introduced jointly by Senator Coons and Senator Blunt.^[1] Blunt stated that "this bill allows Child Advocacy Centers in Missouri and across the country to continue to provide a safe haven for child abuse victims and helps law enforcement hold perpetrators accountable for their actions."^[1] Senator Coons agreed, saying "we have a responsibility to protect our children from violence and abuse."^[1]

The National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) supported the bill.^[6] The International Association of Chiefs of Police also supported the bill, saying that the "increased funding will enable child victims of violent crimes to receive the services they need and allow law enforcement to better protect children and hold perpetrators accountable."^[2]

Related Research Articles

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the President of the United States reauthorized the allocation of $40 million in funding for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as part of Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2013. The current chair of the organization is child safety advocate Patty Wetterling, mother of Jacob Wetterling.

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References

1 2 3 4 5 Cox, Ramsey (30 June 2014). "Senate passes bill to protect children from abuse". The Hill. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
1 2 Guy, Sarah (3 March 2014). "The U.S. Senate Remains Focused on Sentencing Reform Legislation". The Police Chief. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
↑ "Congress Introduces Bipartisan Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013". National Children's Alliance. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "S. 1799 - Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
1 2 "S. 1799 - All Actions". United States Congress. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
↑ "Updates on Mental Health Legislation, Victims of Child Abuse Act, DPPA, and Officer Sean Collier Campus Police Recognition Act". National Association of Police Organizations. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

External links

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[CoxSenatePass-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Cox, Ramsey (30 June 2014). "Senate passes bill to protect children from abuse". The Hill. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

[IACPsarahguy-2] 1 2 Guy, Sarah (3 March 2014). "The U.S. Senate Remains Focused on Sentencing Reform Legislation". The Police Chief. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

[NCAinfo-3] "Congress Introduces Bipartisan Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013". National Children's Alliance. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

[1799sum-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "S. 1799 - Summary". United States Congress. Retrieved 27 June 2014.

[1799allactions-5] 1 2 "S. 1799 - All Actions". United States Congress. Retrieved 27 June 2014.

[NAPOsupport-6] "Updates on Mental Health Legislation, Victims of Child Abuse Act, DPPA, and Officer Sean Collier Campus Police Recognition Act". National Association of Police Organizations. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.