86R30601 BPG-D
By: Reynolds H.C.R. No. 170
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women
Act is critical to protecting Americans from gender-based violence,
including domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and
stalking; and
WHEREAS, Gender-based violence has a devastating impact on
survivors, their families, and their communities; such assaults can
have serious health consequences for survivors and can disrupt
their education, undermine their ability to work, and jeopardize
their ability to maintain stable housing for themselves and their
children; and
WHEREAS, Since Congress passed VAWA in 1994, rates of
violence, on average, have decreased; the act has been reauthorized
three times, and H.R. 1585, the Violence Against Women
Reauthorization Act of 2019, introduced in the 116th Congress, is a
bipartisan bill that strengthens VAWA with modest yet important
upgrades grounded in a modern understanding of gender-based
violence and the needs of survivors from all backgrounds; and
WHEREAS, The VAWA Reauthorization Act would improve services
for victims and responses by health care systems; in addition, it
includes provisions to combat online predators of the young,
prevent campus violence, and reduce homicide rates by lawfully
protecting survivors from abusers with firearms; it would also
enhance legal tools to hold perpetrators accountable and increase
access to justice and safety for American Indian and Alaska Native
women; moreover, it would help mitigate the detrimental impact of
gender-based violence on the economic security of survivors and
support the ability of survivors to maintain or secure safe housing
in public, subsidized, and assisted housing; and
WHEREAS, All Americans deserve to live their lives in safety,
free from the threat of violence, and although the nation has made
significant progress in recent years, it can and should do more to
protect the vulnerable and ensure availability of vital resources;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby respectfully urge the U.S. Congress to pass H.R. 1585, the
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019; and, be it
further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.