Sponsors (9)
Official title: To provide for a grant program to support the establishment and operation of a national faith-based resource center on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
Introduced May 14, 2026 by Lois Frankel · Last progress May 14, 2026
The bill aims to improve support for survivors by funding faith-informed training, definitions, and a model state remedy for faith-based harms, but it risks privileging faith-based approaches over secular clinical services, imposes administrative and fiscal costs, and could trigger legal and privacy challenges.
Survivors of domestic and sexual violence — especially those who are religious or engage faith communities — will get more culturally and faith-informed services, including trained clergy and better referral pathways through a national resource center and related training programs.
People (often women) subjected to religious divorce denial and other faith-specific coercive practices will have clearer legal definitions and a state-model template they can use to pursue relief, making remedies more consistent across states.
The bill creates stable federal support by appropriating dedicated funding ($2M annually, FY2027–2031) to sustain the national faith-informed victim services center and to fund survivor advisory groups and related activities.
Non-religious survivors and people of minority faiths risk being marginalized if programs prioritize faith-based approaches, and emphasis on faith responses could de-emphasize or displace secular clinical supports.
Stronger state protections and model laws could provoke legal challenges balancing new remedies against religious liberty, producing litigation costs, uncertainty, and strained relations between governments and faith communities.
Grant eligibility rules, attestation requirements, and prior-grant leadership expectations create administrative barriers that favor larger organizations and may exclude small or new community-based faith groups from leading or accessing funds.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes OVW grants to create a National Resource Center to support survivors in faith communities and directs model State language on religious divorce denial.
Creates a federally supported National Resource Center to help survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking who identify with or participate in faith or spiritual communities. The Attorney General, through the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), may award grants to consortia of eligible organizations—including faith-based and culturally specific groups—to establish and run the center, provide services, and develop resources tailored to faith communities. Directs the Attorney General to publish model State legislative language addressing religious divorce denial in consultation with experts and community stakeholders, requires annual reporting by grantees on activities and effectiveness, and mandates OVW to submit a summary report to relevant Congressional committees every two years.