Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012
Latest action. Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate legislative calendarThe list of measures reported out of committee and eligible for floor action. Being on the calendar is not a promise of a vote.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) under General Orders. Calendar No. 406.
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012 - (Sec. 3) Amends the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) to add or expand definitions of several terms for purposes of such Act, including: (1) "underserved populations" to mean populations who face barriers to accessing and using sexual assault victim services due to geographic location or religious, racial, or ethnic identity or because of special needs; (2) "personally identifying information or personal information" with respect to a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking; (3) "youth" to mean a person who is 11 to 24 years old; and (4) "rape crisis center" to mean a governmental or nongovernmental entity that provides intervention and related assisted to victims of sexual assault without regard to the age of such victims.
Modifies or expands grant conditions under such Act, including requirements relating to: (1) nondisclosure of personally identifying information or other victim information, (2) information sharing between grantees and subgrantees, and (3) civil rights and nondiscrimination.
(Sec. 4) Requires each applicant for a grant from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to submit a list of each federal grant applied for within one year of the date of a grant application and a list of each federal grant received within five years of such date.
Imposes enhanced audit requirements of VAWA grant recipients, including requiring the Inspectors General of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), beginning in FY2013, to audit not fewer than 10% of all VAWA grant recipients to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds.
Imposes new requirements for funding DOD and HHS conferences.
Prohibits VAWA grantees or subgrantees from lobbying any federal or state representative regarding the award of a VAWA grant.
Requires the Attorney General and the HHS Secretary to develop standards, protocols, and sample tools to provide guidance and training to VAWA grantees and subgrantees regarding financial record-keeping and accounting practices to prevent misuse of grant funds.
The summary continues for 78 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on May 16, 2012. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 21, 2012: Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 406.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 112th Congress (2011-12), 283 of the 10,618 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Sandy Adams (R-FL) introduced it on April 27, 2012, and 40 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 40 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 27, 2012, 5249 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 5225 days ago, on May 21, 2012.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 112th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2013 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers