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Family
Violence Council Faces Uncertain Future, Funding
By
CHRISTINE E. HINES
Capital
News Service—ANNAPOLIS
The Family
Violence Council, a creation of Maryland's Attorney General
and former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, faces an uncertain
future when its funding expires at the end of March.
The council,
a task force focused on reducing and preventing family violence,
received money from federal grants distributed by the Governor's
Crime Control and Prevention Office. But its current grant
will expire March 31 and it's uncertain how Gov. Robert Ehrlich
will distribute federal funds from the crime control office,
said council director Jodi Finkelstein.
"Because
it's a new administration, we're not sure how everything is
going to be structured," she said.
Created
in 1995, the council has guided legislation relating to family
violence, including the "24/7 access" bill, a constitutional
amendment enabling district court commissioners to issue civil
protection orders when courts are not in session. Maryland
voters approved the amendment in November.
The council,
whose membership includes legislators, law enforcement personnel,
judges and domestic violence advocates, met Wednesday in Annapolis
to discuss proposed legislation on stalking and a rape shield
law to protect sexual crime victims.
The Women
Legislators of Maryland also took up the council's cause.
The caucus voted to send a letter to Ehrlich to persuade him
"that the council should continue to be funded and continue
to function," said caucus president Delegate Adrienne A. Mandel,
D-Montgomery.
But before
the governor can take action, the federal government must
decide funding levels for the states, said George Ludington,
spokesman for the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention.
"Hopefully
by the time the current grant expires, a decision would have
been made," Ludington said.
In the
meantime, the Attorney General's Office is exploring all the
options to make sure the office survives, Finkelstein said.
"I am
100 percent positive that the attorney general will do everything
possible because he's such a champion on this issue."
1/22/03
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