Sponsor
Emilia Strong Sykes
Representative · D-OH
Representative · D-OH
The bill invests federal funds to train providers and build evidence for trauma‑informed, victim‑centered care—improving services and access in underserved communities—but funding limits, competitive grants, privacy risks from public reporting, and added administrative work could restrict reach and create burdens for smaller providers and survivors.
Healthcare providers and victims (including patients with chronic conditions and students) will receive federally funded training in trauma‑informed, victim‑centered care, improving identification and treatment of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence.
Victims in underserved and hard‑to‑reach communities (rural areas, Tribal lands, and college campuses) will gain access to more culturally and linguistically appropriate responses from trained staff.
Federal grant funding (authorized at $10M/year FY2026–2030) provides predictable resources that support program continuity and capacity‑building at eligible facilities and victim service partners.
Rural, Tribal, and other underserved communities and campuses may still lack access because the $10M/year authorization is likely insufficient to fund training nationwide.
Smaller or underfunded facilities and nonprofits may be disadvantaged by a competitive grant process that favors better‑resourced applicants, limiting reach to the communities most in need.
Mandated public sharing of preliminary evaluation results risks exposing or stigmatizing survivors if data are not carefully de‑identified, harming patients (including those with disabilities or chronic conditions).
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a DOJ-run competitive grant demonstration program funding trauma-informed, victim-centered training and evaluation in health settings, funded at $10M/year for FY2026–2030.
Official title: To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to ensure that healthcare providers can assist survivors of domestic violence, and for other purposes.
Introduced October 6, 2025 by Emilia Strong Sykes · Last progress October 6, 2025
Creates a federal competitive grant demonstration program to train health care providers and other covered individuals to identify, respond to, and treat survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking using trauma-informed, victim-centered approaches. Grants will fund partnerships between eligible health facilities and victim services organizations, require local research partners to evaluate outcomes and publicly share results, and authorize $10 million per year for FY2026–2030 to run the program, with a GAO report due within three years.