Sponsors (7)
The bill directs federal funding and training to expand evidence-based lethality assessments and improve connections to victim services—likely reducing fatalities and improving support—while creating risks of misapplication for marginalized communities, favoring established organizations, and imposing a modest recurring federal cost.
First responders and local agencies will receive training to better identify and respond to potentially lethal domestic violence, reducing the risk of homicides and improving survivor safety.
Creates a focused federal funding stream ($5M/year starting FY2026) to scale evidence-based lethality assessment programs nationwide, explicitly supporting tribal governments and underserved communities.
Survivors of domestic violence will gain faster connections to local victim service providers through funded national training and technical assistance, improving access to supports.
Standardized lethality assessments could be misapplied without appropriate cultural or local adaptation, producing false positives or negatives that disproportionately harm racial/ethnic and tribal communities.
Smaller or newer local victim service providers may be disadvantaged if a national-experience requirement concentrates grants with established organizations, reducing local capacity and innovation.
Taxpayers ultimately fund the $5 million annual authorization, which could divert resources from other federal priorities or programs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes the Attorney General to fund a national training and technical assistance center to promote statewide, local, and Tribal adoption of lethality assessment programs, at $5M/year starting FY2026.
Official title: To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to establish a national training and technical assistance center to provide for the ongoing promotion and adoption of lethality assessment programs to reduce domestic violence-related homicides, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 11, 2026 by Sarah Elfreth · Last progress February 11, 2026
Authorizes the Attorney General to award grants to one or more nonprofit or tribal organizations to establish a national training and technical assistance center that promotes and supports statewide, local, and Tribal adoption of lethality assessment programs to reduce domestic violence–related homicides. The bill defines what qualifies as a lethality assessment program and includes an annual authorization of $5,000,000 beginning in FY2026, with funds to remain available until expended.