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Subcommittee advances $600,000 Justice for Families grant to full committee for integrated domestic violence court pilot
Summary
The Public Safety Subcommittee voted to move a retroactive federal grant application from the Oregon Judicial Department for a $600,000 Justice for Families grant to the full committee with the Legislative Fiscal Office recommendation; the grant would fund statewide training and a Marion County pilot integrated domestic violence court.
The Public Safety Subcommittee on Feb. 4 approved, by voice, a motion to move to the full committee a retroactive federal grant application from the Oregon Judicial Department seeking $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women for the Justice for Families program.
Nancy Thamerd, director of the Juvenile Family Court Programs Division at the Oregon Judicial Department, told the subcommittee the grant is $600,000 over three years with no local match requirement and has two primary objectives: develop comprehensive domestic and sexual violence training for judges, referees and court staff (including family law facilitators and court-connected mediators), and pilot an integrated domestic violence court in Marion County that combines civil, criminal and family dockets under a single judicial model.
"The amount of the grant is $600,000 over 3 years and there's no match requirement," Thamerd said. She said the integrated domestic violence court model—often described as "one family, one judge"—is intended to improve victim safety and defendant accountability by coordinating civil and criminal responses and local partners including law enforcement, victim advocates, parole and probation, prosecutors and defense counsel.
Legislative Fiscal Office staff recommended approval. A committee member moved to send the request to the full committee "with the LFO recommendation." The motion passed on a voice vote; no recorded opposition was taken and Senator Robin agreed to carry the request to the full committee.
Why it matters: the grant would fund department training and a local pilot court model that the department described as a means to coordinate civil, criminal and family cases involving domestic violence. The department cited a Secretary of State report noting high prevalence of domestic violence in Oregon and said survivors face barriers to services and justice.
Committee discussion was brief and procedural. The committee recorded no roll-call vote in the transcript; members approved forwarding the request to the full committee.
