The Assembly Judiciary Committee was urged Thursday to double the amount of money going to domestic violence programs statewide.
Sen. Julia Ratti, D-Sparks, said the domestic violence programs in Nevada are primarily funded by a $25 fee added to the price of marriage licenses. But she said that fee hasn’t been raised since 2009 and that inflation has dramatically cut into what those programs can do for victims.
In addition, she said only one county, Clark, uses some of the money raised to fund the Rape Crisis Center in Las Vegas.
Assistant Attorney General Jessica Adair said a study by that office found six Nevada counties have no sexual assault advocates and another five have one part-time advocate.
She also said there is a significant misconception about the availability of federal grants to support domestic violence programs. The Violence Against Women Act funding brings Nevada about $1.9 million a year but only 30 percent of that is earmarked for providers. The rest of the money, she said, goes to law enforcement.
SB177, Ratti said, would double the fee per license to $50 and earmark a quarter of it to sexual assault programs across the state. The remaining 75 percent would continue to go to domestic violence programs.
Sue Meuschke, director of the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, said the added funding is critical.
“If we don’t have this funding, services will start to go away,” she told the committee.
Marlene Lockard of the Domestic Violence Resource Center in Washoe County said the increased fees would provide critical support because, unlike federal funding and donations, the marriage license money comes without strings and can be used to provide administrative support and other costs not allowed by grants.
Asked if the $25 addition to the marriage license would deter Las Vegas’ marriage tourism, Ratti said simply that, if $25 deters people from getting married, maybe they shouldn’t in the first place.
That market is important because Ratti said marriage tourism accounts for about 80 percent of the licenses issued in Clark County.
If the bill becomes law, marriage license fees would range from $102 in Las Vegas to $85 in some rural counties.
The committee took no action on SB177.
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