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Survivor‑services and eviction‑defense advocates urge full restoration of VOCA and Right to Counsel funding
Summary
Providers and legal advocates told the Appropriations Committee partial restoration of crime victim services and eviction defense funding risks program closures and loss of legal representation; they requested the governor's budget be amended to restore roughly $21.38M for victim services and $3M for right‑to‑counsel funding.
Advocates for crime victims, legal services and eviction defense pressed the House Appropriations Committee to restore funding for victim services and right‑to‑counsel programs that they say the governor's supplemental budget does not fully fund.
Kate Garvey, CEO of the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (CASARC), said the governor allocated $12 million for victim services but that providers need roughly $21.38 million to maintain current services and avoid waitlists and closures. "We need $21,380,000 simply to level fund current services," she said, asking distribution aligned with the state VOCA plan.
Representatives from the Office of Civil Legal Aid and eviction‑defense programs urged preservation of $3 million in supplemental funding for the appointed counsel program for indigent tenants, warning that loss of that funding would eliminate attorneys and reduce access to representation. Philippe Knabb, eviction defense program director, said more than 30,000 low‑income Washingtonians have benefited from the program and warned of attorney losses and reduced services without the $3M restoration.
Multiple testifiers—including Children's Advocacy Centers, VOCA administrators, and survivors—said partial funding would force hotline closures and significantly reduce services in rural regions and counties with limited alternatives. They urged the committee to follow the governor's recommendation where it fully restored certain items and to restore the remainder needed to avoid service gaps.
