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Governor Kaine Announces 2008 Legislative Initiatives on Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Governor Kaine Announces 2008 Legislative Initiatives on Domestic and Sexual Violence

January 2, RICHMOND –Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced sexual and domestic violence prevention and response proposals he will submit for consideration by the 2008 General Assembly. The legislative package includes proposals to fund community-based sexual and domestic violence prevention programs and measures to bring the Commonwealth in compliance with the federal Violence Against Women Act of 2005. The budget and legislative proposals are based on recommendations from the Governor’s Commission on Sexual Violence.

“While Virginia has made progress in the management of sexually violent offenders, we have fallen behind in our efforts to address the needs of victims,” said Governor Kaine. “The physical and emotional trauma suffered by victims of sexual violence, often compounded by silence and stigma surrounding the crime, calls for special attention in our response and prevention efforts. These measures will help us move towards prevention and response efforts that put victims first.”

What We Do

The Secretary of Public Safety provides guidance to 14 state agencies, with over 22,000 employees. Here's a sample of what we do:

Enforce criminal, highway safety, and alcoholic beverage and tobacco laws;
Teach or train approximately 18,000 adults and 1,750 youths each year;
Protect public safety through confinement, treatment and re-entry preparation of more than 31,000 felons and through the supervision, treatment and monitoring of over 55,000 people on parole or probation;
Provide technical assistance, research and training for law enforcement agencies, community fire departments and prosecutors;
Plan and coordinate the state's emergency preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation efforts;
Train over 14,000 fire fighters;
Investigate crimes and test crime scene evidence;
Train more than 8,200 Army and Air National Guard members; and,
Provide services to Virginia's 740,000 veterans.

Public Safety Employee Disaster Assistance Program

Hazmat Response

The Commonwealth has enacted new legislation that offers financial assistance to public safety responders. Section 44-146.17 in the Code of Virginia states that public safety employees who respond to a disaster can receive assistance from the state under the following conditions:

The Governor has declared a state of emergency.
The employee is actively involved in response and recovery efforts for the disaster.
The employee experiences extreme personal or family hardship and has supporting documentation.

Hazmat Response

Each employee can receive up to $2,500 each month for up to three months, but cannot receive more than $7,500 total. The Commonwealth is offering these funds to fill unmet needs that insurance, charitable contributions and any other available disaster funds do not cover. The approval of assistance and amounts awarded are at the discretion of the Governor or his designee, and all such decisions are final. Temporary or contract support employees are not eligible.

Applications and program guidance are available at http://www.vaemergency.com/recover/index.cfm.

Virginia Department of Emergency Management — Defined and Major Initiatives (pdf 27 kb)

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