With dwindling federal funds and a looming state budget shortfall, Washington lawmakers are trying to figure out how to keep paying for services for crime victims.
Funding for the Victims of Crime Act State Plan is projected to be cut in half by this summer. The state has backfilled that money in the past to ensure people don’t lose access to things like legal advocacy, therapy, emergency shelter and forensic exams.
But with a state budget hole over the next four years, funding those services past July 1 could be difficult, raising worries that some programs could have to close.
For more information on supporting victims of abuse, read more about a proposed bill in Washington that seeks to help children who witness domestic violence, and addressing the lasting trauma they may experience.
“This network is at its most fragile state it’s ever been,” said Laurel Redden, director of communications at King County Sexual Assault Resource Center. “We’re getting to a point where there is really going to be stress and strain on these organizations.”
Federal funding for crime victim services comes from criminal fines, forfeited bonds and other financial penalties in federal court cases. In 2018, federal Victims of Crime Act dollars peaked at about $74.7 million. But revenue has been eroding since, sinking to around $17.8 million as of last June.
In his proposed budget, former Gov. Jay Inslee set aside $20 million in state funds next year for crime victims services. Lawmakers are looking at something more stable.
Proposals from Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, and Rep. Lauren Davis, D-Shoreline, would require Washington’s crime victims fund to have $50 million every year through 2029, $60 million every year through 2033 and $70 million every year starting in 2033.
Those numbers include whatever the state gets each year in federal funding. So, for example, if the state received $40 million from the federal government in 2026, the state would need to set aside $10 million.
That proposal was voted out of the Senate Committee on Law and Justice on Thursday, with bipartisan support. It now heads to the Senate Ways and Means Committee for further consideration.
Sherrie Tinoco, acting public policy director at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the proposal will provide stability to programs at risk of losing funding every year or two.
The coalition represents 70 member organizations that operate domestic violence shelters, provide housing, work on legal or medical advocacy, and offer other services.
Tinoco said that without more state funding, after-hours hotlines will shut down, emergency shelter capacity will shrink and fewer legal advocates will be available.
She said a lot of programs are already talking about what they might cut or whether they should close if the state does not set aside more money. That will directly result in fewer people being helped, she said.
“If this funding does not go through, there’s going to be a level of crisis in the safety net that will be unprecedented,” she said. “There is no plan B.”
A loss in funding will hit central and eastern Washington the hardest, said Paula Reed, executive director at the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Washington.
Reed’s organization represents centers across the state that receive crime victim funding to provide support for children who are survivors of abuse. They help coordinate interviews of children with law enforcement, connect them with therapy and medical exams, and offer services for caregivers.
There are already some counties that don’t have access to these services, and if more close, families would be forced to drive hours to Spokane or across the mountains to Seattle, Reed said.
“At some point, it’s just going to snowball,” she said.
Dhingra said what’s most important this legislative session is maintaining the current level of services in Washington. “It’s very, very hard to recover services once they have been lost,” she said.
But finding new funding could be difficult given a tough budget and anticipated cuts.
Dhingra acknowledged there will be difficult decisions ahead but emphasized that the state cannot “balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable.”
“We do have a tradition of supporting victim services,” Dhingra said.
Redden said she understands the tight budget situation and she’s not sure how much lawmakers might be able to set aside, but she described the services at risk as basic and vital and said the risk of letting them go unfunded is “profound.”
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