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18-Year-Old Girl Killed by Boyfriend in SCV, Politicians Move to Bring Back Domestic Violence Funding
Photo by ghetto_guera29 via Flickr
Last month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated full funding--a mere $16.3 million--for domestic violence programs in the state. Highlighting the need for such a program, an 18-year-old girl was killed in her bed in the Santa Clarita Valley last Sunday. Her boyfriend allegedly committed the murder inside the family trailer in the Canyon Country neighborhood. That was the third domestic violence death for the valley in a year's time. With Schwarzenegger's cuts, the Domestic Violence Center in the Santa Clarita Valley will be closing its doors later this year if donations do not cover what state money usual does. Taking note of the recent events, Assemblyman Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) has co-authored an emergency bill to fully restore funding in a no-cost move by shifting $16.3 million from the Victims’ Compensation Fund (in total, that fund has $136.2 million) to the Department of Public Health’s Domestic Violence Program.
“It’s important that we continue to fund Domestic Violence programs because they provide critical services to victims of domestic abuse, and often is the only thing keeping them from returning to their abuser,” said Smyth. “The program has proven successful, and this legislation will ensure that 94 domestic violence shelters in California, including several in my district, are able to remain open.”
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