00Enrolled HJR 48                                                                                                         
01 Urging the United States Congress to pass the Crime Victims Fund Preservation Act.                                      
02                                          _______________                                                                
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                             
04      WHEREAS the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10601 - 10608) established                                   
05 the Crime Victims Fund, which is one the main sources of money and support for crime                                    
06 victims and crime victims' services in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto                              
07 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and territories of the United States; and                                       
08      WHEREAS the Crime Victims Fund provides critical funding for formula grants to                                   
09 states for victim compensation and victim assistance and for federal discretionary grants, in                           
10 addition to earmarks for federal victim assistance in the United States Attorneys' Offices and                          
11 the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for the Victim Notification System and the Children's                          
12 Justice Act grant programs; and                                                                                         
13      WHEREAS state compensation programs pay directly for medical care, counseling,                                   
14 and lost wages for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, and rape, and for funerals for                            
15 victims of homicide; and                                                                                                
16      WHEREAS state victim assistance programs provide critical, often life-saving                                     
17 services, including crisis intervention and emergency shelter, and counseling, child care, and                          

01 emergency transportation services; and                                                                                  
02      WHEREAS the Office for Victims of Crime awards discretionary grants for                                          
03 demonstration projects, training, and technical assistance to expand and improve the delivery                           
04 of services to crime victims and to support services to victims of federal offenses; and                                
05      WHEREAS funds placed in the Crime Victims Fund are derived primarily from                                        
06 criminal fines and other penalties paid by offenders of federal crimes, and the fund does not                           
07 rely on tax revenue; and                                                                                                
08      WHEREAS states may use compensation grants and victim assistance grants over a                                   
09 four-year period, thus enabling them to plan and manage the distribution of funds over time;                            
10 and                                                                                                                     
11      WHEREAS, in 2000, the United States Congress began capping annual obligations                                    
12 from the Crime Victims Fund, which has limited the amount of funding that would otherwise                               
13 have been available to support victims' services; and                                                                   
14      WHEREAS, in the past 11 years, nearly $9,000,000,000 has been deposited into the                                 
15 Crime Victims Fund while only $6,000,000,000 has been obligated, resulting in an                                        
16 accumulated balance of nearly $3,000,000,000 in the fund as of the beginning of 2010; and                               
17      WHEREAS the United States Congress has repeatedly stated that the purpose of the                                 
18 cap is to ensure that a stable level of funding will remain available for crime victims' services                       
19 in future years; and                                                                                                    
20      WHEREAS crime victims' services in all states and jurisdictions are facing severe                                
21 budgetary shortfalls because of cutbacks in other victim assistance programs and decreases in                           
22 private donations, while the need for services continues to increase; and                                               
23      WHEREAS S. 1340 and H.R. 3402, the Crime Victims Fund Preservation Act of                                        
24 2009, introduced in the United States Senate by Senator Patrick Leahy and introduced in the                             
25 United States House of Representatives by Representative Ted Poe, would establish                                       
26 increasing minimum caps on annual Crime Victims Fund obligations through the year 2014,                                 
27 significantly increasing the amount in the fund available for state victim assistance grants and                        
28 for discretionary grants awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, without jeopardizing the                           
29 long-term sustainability of the fund;                                                                                   
30      BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature fully supports the purposes of                                  
31 S. 1340 and H.R. 3402, the Crime Victims Fund Preservation Act of 2009, and urges the                                   

01 United States Congress to enact the Crime Victims Fund Preservation Act.                                                
02      COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-                             
03 President of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Harry Reid,                              
04 Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the                               
05 U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                              
06 Honorable Steny H. Hoyer, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                     
07 Honorable John Boehner, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                       
08 Honorable Patrick Leahy, U.S. Senator; the Honorable Ted Poe, U.S. Representative; and the                              
09 Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the                                          
10 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.