Our policy focus areas are determined by our member organizations’ experience of emerging and ongoing needs at the community level. SCCADVASA strives to make sure these needs are heard, understood, and acted upon by our state legislators and congressional delegation.

During 2026, SCCADVASA will continue our advocacy efforts at the S.C. State House and in Washington, D.C.

Current Public Policy Initiatives

Budget

Congress is currently working to pass an FY26 Budget ahead of the January 30th deadline when the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires.

Both the House and Senate have passed a bipartisan “minibus” which included three (3) bills, one of which was the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bill that contains the budget for the Department of Justice. This bill includes:

  • $720 million for Violence Against Women Act grants, an increase of $7 million above the fiscal year 2025 enacted level and includes funding for grant programs zeroed out in the House bill including Culturally Specific, Underserved, Restorative Practices, and LGBTQ Specific Services.
  • $51 million for Transitional Housing ($1 million increase from FY25)
  • Language in the Joint Explanatory Statement that states, “The agreement directs the Department to maintain the Office on Violence Against Women and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services as distinct organizational grantmaking entities [emphasis added] within the Department.” (p. 39) The Department of Justice has proposed merging OVW into the Office of Justice Programs, despite explicit statutory language barring such a move (34 U.S.C. § 10442-10445).
  • $1.95 billion released for the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) and includes a 5% set aside for tribal programs. Unfortunately, it does also include a $100 million transfer out of VOCA to fund OVW.

All South Carolina House Members, except for Rep. Norman voted for passage of this bill.

Crime Victim Fund Stabilization Act

H. R. 909 was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 12th, 2026 and we now look to the Senate to act. This bipartisan bill which has attracted 326 co-sponsors seeks to stabilize the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) from which essential grants supporting victim services are funded by redirecting funds collected through the False Claims Act into the CVF through FY29.

The following members of the South Carolina delegation are co-sponsors of the bill: Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. William Timmons, Rep. Russell Fry & Rep. Joe Wilson.

Defiance (Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits) Act

In January 2026, the Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation allowing victims of nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes to sue creators and distributors of this image-based sexual abuse and levies fines of up to $250,000 per violation. This is the second time the Senate has passed the bill.

Co-sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (IL) and Lindsey Graham (SC), the Defiance Act now advances to the House of Representatives where it has been stalled.

A deepfake is an image or video created using artificial intelligence (AI) that has been altered to misrepresent someone doing or saying something they did not do. Over 90% of online deepfakes are nonconsensual sexual content and nearly all victims are women.