Tech Safety for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Act
The Tech Safety for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Act would create a federal pilot program under the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) to address technology-related abuse in cases of intimate partner violence and related crimes. The program would award grants to eligible consortia—partnerships between a higher education institution or tech-sector partners and local DV/sexual violence centers, with government support—to develop and implement technology-focused services for victims, including recruiting technologists to work with victim service providers. Grants could be up to $2 million per recipient, with no more than 15 total grants, and would run for up to five years after the first award. The act also establishes a separate grant program (administered with input from Education and Health and Human Services) to fund education, training, and technical assistance on technological abuse for organizations and individuals who assist victims. The bill emphasizes interagency coordination, stakeholder input, periodic reporting to Congress, and overall evaluation of the pilot’s effectiveness. In short, the bill aims to fund a limited, five-year test to build tech-safety capacity for victims, create a workforce of technologists to assist DV/SA survivors, and provide training resources to improve prevention and response to technology-enabled abuse.
Key Points
- 1Establishes a five-year pilot program under the Director to grant up to 15 awards of up to $2,000,000 each to consortia that combat technological abuse in DV/VAW cases.
- 2Defines eligible consortia as a collaboration between (a) higher education institutions or tech-sector partners that can provide IT/cybersecurity expertise and (b) public or private DV or sexual violence centers, with a letter of support from local/state/Tribal government.
- 3Grants may be used to purchase new technology devices for victims and to fund other activities or victim services aimed at reducing technological abuse.
- 4Creates a separate grant program to fund education, training, and technical assistance on technological abuse for organizations and individuals supporting victims, with a total cap of not more than $20,000,000 over five years.
- 5Requires interagency consultation (Health and Human Services, Education, FCC) and stakeholder input, and mandates periodic reporting to Congress, including an evaluation of efficacy, implementation challenges, and whether the program should become permanent.