[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9693 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9693
To promote the economic security and safety of survivors of domestic
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 19, 2024
Mrs. Dingell (for herself, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Ms. Kuster, Mrs.
Ramirez, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Ross, Mr. Grijalva, and Ms. Lee of California)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on
Financial Services, Ways and Means, the Judiciary, House
Administration, Oversight and Accountability, and Energy and Commerce,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To promote the economic security and safety of survivors of domestic
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Security And
Financial Empowerment for Survivors Act of 2024'' or the ``SAFE for
Survivors Act of 2024''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Rule of construction regarding more protective laws,
agreements, programs, and plans.
Sec. 5. Arbitration.
TITLE I--REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER GRANTS ON
WORKPLACE RESPONSES TO ASSIST VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Sec. 101. Grant program reauthorization.
TITLE II--SAFE LEAVE FOR ADDRESSING QUALIFYING ACTS OF VIOLENCE
Sec. 201. Entitlement to safe leave for addressing domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault, or
stalking.
Sec. 202. Prohibited acts.
Sec. 203. Enforcement.
Sec. 204. Existing leave usable for a qualifying act of violence.
Sec. 205. Emergency benefits.
Sec. 206. Regulations.
TITLE III--SURVIVORS' EMPLOYMENT SUSTAINABILITY
Sec. 301. Short title.
Sec. 302. Definitions.
Sec. 303. Prohibited discriminatory acts.
Sec. 304. Remedies and enforcement.
Sec. 305. Rulemaking.
Sec. 306. Attorney's fees.
TITLE IV--ENTITLEMENT TO UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF A
QUALIFYING ACT OF VIOLENCE
Sec. 401. Unemployment compensation for victims of a qualifying act of
violence.
TITLE V--INSURANCE PROTECTIONS AND SUPPORT FOR VICTIMS OF A QUALIFYING
ACT OF VIOLENCE
Subtitle A--Insurance Protections
Sec. 501. Definitions.
Sec. 502. Discriminatory acts prohibited.
Sec. 503. Insurance protocols for victims of a qualifying act of
violence.
Sec. 504. Reasons for adverse actions.
Sec. 505. Life insurance.
Sec. 506. Subrogation without consent prohibited.
Sec. 507. Enforcement.
Sec. 508. Applicability.
Subtitle B--Supporting and Empowering Victims
Sec. 511. Qualifying acts of violence education and information
programs for victims.
Sec. 512. Investing in public health infrastructure to improve support
for victims.
TITLE VI--SEVERABILITY
Sec. 601. Severability.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Gender-based violence is prevalent in the United
States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, almost 1 in 4 women report having experienced
severe physical violence from an intimate partner in their
lifetime and 1 in 4 women reported an attempted or completed
rape during their lifetime. Such violence has a devastating
impact on women's physical and emotional health, financial
security, and ability to maintain their jobs, and thus impacts
interstate commerce and economic security.
(2) A large percentage of the workforce are survivors of
domestic and sexual violence, and many of them struggle to
remain connected to the workforce as they face numerous
challenges in obtaining and maintaining employment as a
consequence of the abuse.
(3) The Office on Violence Against Women of the Department
of Justice defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive
behavior in any relationship that is used by one intimate
partner to gain or maintain power and control over another
intimate partner. Domestic violence can include physical,
sexual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or
threats of actions that influence another person. Domestic
violence includes any behaviors that intimidate, manipulate,
humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten,
blame, hurt, injure, or wound an individual.
(4) Homicide is one of the leading causes of death for
women on the job. Domestic partners or relatives commit 43
percent of workplace homicides against women. One study found
that intimate partner violence resulted in 142 homicides among
women at work in the United States from 2003 to 2008, a figure
which represents 22 percent of the 648 workplace homicides
among women during the period. In fact, in 2010, homicides
against women at work increased by 13 percent despite
continuous declines in overall workplace homicides in recent
years.
(5) Women in the United States are 28 times more likely to
be murdered with guns than women in other high-income
countries. Female intimate partners are more likely to be
murdered with a firearm than all other means combined. The
presence of a gun in domestic violence situations increases the
risk of homicide for women by 500 percent.
(6) Violence can have a dramatic impact on the survivor of
such violence. Studies indicate that 44 percent of surveyed
employed adults experienced the effect of domestic violence in
the workplace, domestic violence victims report that they lost
a job, and 1 in 3 domestic violence victims report that they
lost a job due to domestic violence. Another recent survey
found that 78 percent of offenders used workplace resources to
express anger, check up on, pressure, or threaten a survivor of
sexual assault, whether occurring in or out of the workplace,
can impair an employee's work performance, require time away
from work, and undermine the employee's ability to maintain a
job. Nearly 50 percent of sexual assault survivors lose their
jobs or are forced to quit in the aftermath of the assaults.
(7) In a study commission by the Office on Violence Against
Women of the Department of Justice, 66 percent of respondents
said an abusive partner had disrupted their ability to complete
education or training through tactics such as not allowing them
access to money to pay for school, socially isolating the
survivor, controlling or monitoring their mobility, using
physical or sexual violence, and damaging or destroying
personal property.
(8) Significant barriers survivors confront include
housing, transportation, and child care. Ninety-two percent of
homeless women have experienced domestic violence, and more
than 50 percent cite domestic violence as the direct cause for
homelessness. Survivors are deprived of their autonomy,
liberty, and security, and face tremendous threats to their
health and safety.
(9) The National Institutes of Health report that survivors
of severe intimate partner violence lose nearly 8,000,000 days
of paid work, which is the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-
time jobs and almost 5,600,000 days of household productivity
each year. Therefore, women disproportionately need time off to
care for their health or to find safety solutions, such as
obtaining a restraining order or finding housing, to avoid or
prevent further violence.
(10) Annual costs of intimate partner violence are
estimated over $8,300,000,000. According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the costs of intimate partner
violence against women in 1995 exceeded an estimated
$5,800,000,000. These costs included nearly $4,100,000,000 in
the direct costs of medical and mental health care and nearly
$1,800,000,000 in the indirect costs of lost productivity.
These statistics are generally considered to be underestimated
because the costs associated with the criminal justice system
are not included.
(11) Studies estimate that work days lost due to intimate
partner violence, sexual violence, or stalking over victims'
lifetimes are worth an estimated $137,800,000,000 (calculated
using 2022 dollars). According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, about 3,400,000 of all persons age 16 or older were
victims of stalking in 2019. Moreover, 17 percent of stalking
victims describe losing a job or job opportunities, 1 in 8
employed stalking victims lose time from work as a result of
their victimization, and more than half lose 5 days of work or
more.
(12) Fifty-five percent of senior executives recently
surveyed said domestic violence has a harmful effect on their
company's productivity. Seventy-eight percent of human
resources professionals consider partner violence a workplace
issue. However, more than 70 percent of United States
workplaces have no formal program or policy that addresses
workplace violence, let alone domestic violence. In fact, only
20 percent of employers provided training on domestic violence.
(13) Studies indicate that one of the best predictors of
whether a survivor will be able to stay away from his or her
abuser is the degree of his or her economic independence.
However, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,
and stalking often negatively impact a survivor's ability to
maintain employment.
(14) Abusers frequently seek to exert financial control
over their partners by actively interfering with their ability
to work, including preventing their partners from going to
work, harassing their partners at work, limiting their
partners' access to cash or transportation, and sabotaging
their partners' child care arrangements.
(15) Economic abuse refers to behaviors that control an
intimate partner's ability to acquire, use, and maintain access
to, money, credit, ownership of assets, or access to
governmental or private financial benefits, including
defaulting on joint obligations (e.g. school loans, credit card
debt, mortgage, or rent). Other forms may include--
(A) preventing someone from attending school;
(B) threatening to or actually terminating
employment;
(C) controlling or withholding access to cash,
checking, or credit accounts; and
(D) attempts to damage or sabotage an intimate
partner's creditworthiness, including forcing a
survivor to write bad checks, taking on debt in the
survivor's name, including forcing a survivor to
default on payments related to household needs, such as
housing, or forcing a survivor into bankruptcy.
(16) Economic abuse is a significant aspect of teen dating
violence, and has harmful long-term impacts on educational
attainment, employment opportunities, and financial
independence.
(17) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public
Law 111-148), and the amendments made by such Act, ensures that
most health plans must cover preventive services, including
screening and counseling for domestic violence, at no
additional cost. In addition, it prohibits insurance companies
from discriminating against patients for preexisting
conditions, like domestic violence.
(18) Yet, more can be done to help survivors. Federal law
in effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act
does not explicitly--
(A) authorize survivors of domestic violence,
dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking to take
leave from work to seek legal assistance and redress,
counseling, or assistance with safety planning
activities;
(B) address the eligibility of survivors of
domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,
stalking, sexual harassment, family violence, gender-
based violence and harassment, or trafficking for
unemployment compensation;
(C) provide job protection to survivors of domestic
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking,
sexual harassment, family violence, gender-based
violence and harassment, or trafficking;
(D) prohibit insurers and employers who self-insure
employee benefits from discriminating against survivors
of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,
stalking, sexual harassment, family violence, gender-
based violence and harassment, or trafficking, and
those who help them in determining eligibility, rates
charged, and standards for payment of claims; or
(E) prohibit insurers from disclosing information
about abuse and the location of the survivors through
insurance databases and other means.
(19) October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
(20) This Act aims to empower survivors of domestic
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking to be
free from violence, hardship, and control, which restrains
basic human rights to freedom and safety in the United States.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Communication of an intimate visual depiction.--
(A) In general.--The term ``communication of an
intimate visual depiction'', when used with respect to
an individual, includes a transmission, dissemination,
or receipt through electronic or other communication
containing at least 1 intimate visual depiction of the
individual without the individual's consent.
(B) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
(i) Intimate visual depiction.--The term
``intimate visual depiction'' means any--
(I) photograph, motion picture
film, videotape, digital image, image
from social media, or any other
recording or other image of an
individual (other than the person
taking the image), which individual is
identifiable from the image itself or
from information displayed with or
otherwise connected to the image, that
depicts--
(aa) sexual activity,
including sexual intercourse or
masturbation; or
(bb) an individual's
intimate body parts, whether
nude or visible through less
than opaque clothing; or
(II) deepfake of the individual
used to realistically depict the
individual such that a reasonable
person would believe the individual is
actually depicted, that depicts--
(aa) sexual activity,
including sexual intercourse or
masturbation; or
(bb) an individual's
intimate body parts, whether
nude or visible through less
than opaque clothing.
(ii) Consent.--The term ``consent'' means
an affirmative, conscious, and voluntary
authorization made by an individual free from
force, fraud, duress, misrepresentation, or
coercion.
(iii) Deepfake.--The term ``deepfake''
means a video or image that is generated or
substantially modified using machine-learning
techniques or any other computer-generated or
machine-generated means to falsely depict an
individual's appearance or conduct.
(2) Dating violence; sexual assault; stalking.--The terms
``dating violence'', ``sexual assault'', and ``stalking'' have
the meanings given the terms in section 40002 of the Violence
Against Women Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291).
(3) Domestic partner.--
(A) In general.--The term ``domestic partner'',
with respect to an individual, means another individual
with whom the first individual is in a committed
relationship, as defined under subparagraph (B).
(B) Committed relationship.--In this paragraph, the
term ``committed relationship'' means a relationship in
which the covered individual, and the domestic partner
of the covered individual, share responsibility for a
significant measure of each other's common welfare.
This includes any relationship between individuals of
the same or different sex that is granted legal