[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4089 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4089

 To provide grants for public information campaigns to educate racial 
             and ethnic minorities about domestic violence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 9, 2002

Ms. Solis (for herself, Ms. Lee, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Conyers, Ms. 
  McCollum, Ms. Watson of California, Mr. Frost, Ms. Kilpatrick, Ms. 
Baldwin, Ms. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Underwood, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Pallone, 
   Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. 
     Pastor, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Stark, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mrs. 
Napolitano, Ms. Millender-McDonald, Ms. DeLauro, Mrs. Meek of Florida, 
    Mr. Baca, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Honda, Mr. 
    Kucinich, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Woolsey, and Mr. Farr of California) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide grants for public information campaigns to educate racial 
             and ethnic minorities about domestic violence.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Multi-Cultural Domestic Violence 
Minority Education Campaigns Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Nearly one-third of women in the United States report 
        being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend 
        at some point in their lives.
            (2) Family violence costs the Nation between $5,000,000,000 
        and $10,000,000,000 each year in medical expenses, police and 
        court costs, shelters and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism, 
        and non-productivity.
            (3) The United States is becoming increasingly 
        multicultural, and minorities are expected to constitute 
        approximately 50 percent of the population of the United States 
        by 2050.
            (4) Minority women face unique challenges to reporting and 
        getting help for domestic violence.
            (5) Structural inequalities experienced by minorities, 
        including poverty and discrimination, may contribute to higher 
        rates of violence.
            (6) Many immigrant women refuse to leave a violent 
        relationship because of fears related to their immigration 
        status.
            (7) Many minority women face cultural barriers to reporting 
        abuse or seeking help for domestic violence, including but not 
        limited to strong religious beliefs that stress the importance 
        of keeping family intact, fear of dishonor, and a belief that 
        negative events occur regardless of attempts to prevent them.
            (8) Many minority women also face institutional barriers to 
        reporting abuse or seeking help for domestic violence, 
        including but not limited to a lack of translators or bilingual 
        professionals, little reading material in the woman's native 
        language, treatment programs that do not take into account 
        ethnic and cultural differences, prohibitive fee structures, 
        and inflexible or inconvenient hours of operation.

SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGNS TO EDUCATE RACIAL AND 
              ETHNIC MINORITIES ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

    (a) In General.--The Attorney General may make grants to States and 
public or private nonprofit entities to carry out public information 
campaigns for the purpose of educating racial and ethnic minorities 
about domestic violence, including the effects of domestic violence, 
methods of preventing or reducing domestic violence, and services 
available to victims of domestic violence.
    (b) Use of Grant Amounts.--Grant amounts under this section may be 
used only to carry out public information campaigns for the purpose 
specified in subsection (a).
    (c) Elements of Campaigns.--Each public information campaign 
carried out under this section shall consist of one or more of the 
following elements:
            (1) Public service announcements.
            (2) Paid educational messages for print media.
            (3) Public transit advertising.
            (4) Electronic broadcast media.
            (5) Any other mode of conveying information that the 
        Attorney General determines to be appropriate.
    (d) Requirements for Grant.--The Attorney General may award a grant 
under this section to an entity only if the Attorney General determines 
that--
            (1) the campaign will be carried out in consultation with 
        local domestic violence advocates or State domestic violence 
        coalitions;
            (2) the campaign is designed to be conducted in a 
        culturally sensitive manner using one or more culturally 
        appropriate languages;
            (3) the media organizations and other groups through which 
        the campaign will be carried out will continue to provide 
        public service announcements at current frequencies, without 
        considering the informational messages of the campaign as 
        public service announcements;
            (4) the applicant has an adequate plan to test-market the 
        campaign with a relevant community or group in the relevant 
        geographic area, and will carry out that plan; and
            (5) the applicant will use effectiveness criteria in 
        carrying out the campaign and an evaluation component to 
        measure the effectiveness of the campaign.
    (e) Award Criteria.--In awarding grants under this section, the 
Attorney General shall consider the following criteria:
            (1) Whether the applicant has, or will be partnering with 
        an entity that has, a record of high quality campaigns of a 
        comparable type.
            (2) Whether the applicant has, or will be partnering with 
        an entity that has, a record of high quality campaigns that 
        educate the communities and groups at greatest risk of domestic 
        violence.
    (f) Application.--
            (1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this section, a State or entity must submit to the Attorney 
        General an application that meets the requirements of paragraph 
        (2).
            (2) Requirements.--An application submitted under this 
        subsection shall be in such form, and submitted in such manner, 
        as the Attorney General may prescribe, and shall include the 
        following matters:
                    (A) A complete description of applicant's plan for 
                the proposed public information campaign.
                    (B) An identification of the specific communities 
                and groups to be educated by the campaign, and a 
                description of how the campaign will educate the 
                communities and groups at greatest risk of domestic 
                violence.
                    (C) The plans of the applicant with respect to 
                working with organizations that have expertise in 
                developing culturally appropriate informational 
                messages.
                    (D) A description of the geographic distribution of 
                the campaign.
                    (E) An identification of the media organizations 
                and other groups through which the campaign will be 
                carried out.
                    (F) A description of the nature, amount, 
                distribution, and timing of informational messages to 
                be used in the campaign.
                    (G) Such information and assurances as the Attorney 
                General may require to determine whether the 
                requirements specified in subsection (d) will be 
                satisfied, and whether the criteria specified in 
                subsection (e) apply.
                    (H) Such other information and assurances as the 
                Attorney General may require.
    (g) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term ``public or 
private nonprofit entity'' includes an ``Indian tribe'' or ``tribal 
organization'', as such terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian 
Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
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