SAFE Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 627 To promote the economic security and safety of survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CARDIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. WARREN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. BROWN, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Security And Financial Empowerment Act of 2019’’ or 5 the ‘‘SAFE Act of 2019’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 627 IS Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. TITLE I—REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER GRANTS ON WORKPLACE RESPONSES TO ASSIST SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE Sec. 101. Grant program reauthorization. TITLE II—SAFE LEAVE FOR ADDRESSING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, OR STALKING Sec. 201. Definitions. Sec. 202. Entitlement to safe leave for addressing domestic violence, dating vio- lence, sexual assault, or stalking. Sec. 203. Existing leave usable for addressing domestic violence, dating vio- lence, sexual assault, or stalking. Sec. 204. Emergency benefits. Sec. 205. Rule of construction. Sec. 206. Regulations. TITLE III—SURVIVORS’ EMPLOYMENT SUSTAINABILITY Sec. 301. Short title. Sec. 302. Prohibited discriminatory acts. Sec. 303. Enforcement. Sec. 304. Regulations. Sec. 305. Attorney’s fees. TITLE IV—ENTITLEMENT TO UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION FOR SURVIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, OR STALKING Sec. 401. Unemployment compensation and training provisions. TITLE V—INSURANCE PROTECTIONS AND SUPPORT FOR SUR- VIVORS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, OR STALKING Subtitle A—Insurance Protections Sec. 501. Definitions. Sec. 502. Discriminatory acts prohibited. Sec. 503. Insurance protocols for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. 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 Survivors Sec. 511. Study and reports on barriers to survivors’ economic security access. Sec. 512. Domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking edu- cation and information programs for survivors. Sec. 513. Investing in public health infrastructure to improve support for sur- vivors. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 627 IS Sec. 514. Financial literacy and advocacy for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. TITLE VI—SEVERABILITY Sec. 601. Severability. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Over 1 in 3 women experience sexual vio- 3 lence, and 1 in 5 women have survived completed or 4 attempted rape. Such violence has a devastating im- 5 pact on women’s physical and emotional health, fi- 6 nancial security, and ability to maintain their jobs, 7 and thus impacts interstate commerce and economic 8 security. 9 (2) The Office on Violence Against Women of 10 the Department of Justice defines domestic violence 11 as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship 12 that is used by one intimate partner to gain or 13 maintain power and control over another intimate 14 partner. Domestic violence can include physical, sex- 15 ual, emotional, economic, or psychological actions or 16 threats of actions that influence another person. Do- 17 mestic violence includes any behaviors that intimi- 18 date, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, ter- 19 rorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or 20 wound an individual. 21 (3) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 22 vention report that domestic violence or intimate 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 627 IS partner violence is a serious public health issue for 1 millions of individuals in the United States. Nearly 2 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men in the United States 3 have suffered sexual violence, physical violence, or 4 stalking by an intimate partner. 5 (4) Homicide is one of the leading causes of 6 death for women on the job. Domestic partners or 7 relatives commit 43 percent of workplace homicides 8 against women. One study found that intimate part- 9 ner violence resulted in 142 homicides among women 10 at work in the United States from 2003 to 2008, a 11 figure which represents 22 percent of the 648 work- 12 place homicides among women during the period. In 13 fact, in 2010, homicides against women at work in- 14 creased by 13 percent despite continuous declines in 15 overall workplace homicides in recent years. 16 (5) Women in the United States are 11 times 17 more likely to be murdered with guns than women 18 in other high-income countries. Female intimate 19 partners are more likely to be murdered with a fire- 20 arm than all other means combined. The presence of 21 a gun in domestic violence situations increases the 22 risk of homicide for women by 500 percent. 23 (6) Violence can have a dramatic impact on the 24 survivor of such violence. Studies indicate that 44 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 627 IS percent of surveyed employed adults experienced the 1 effect of domestic violence in the workplace, and 64 2 percent indicated their workplace performance was 3 affected. Another recent survey found that 78 per- 4 cent of offenders used workplace resources to ex- 5 press anger, check up on, pressure, or threaten a 6 survivor of sexual assault, whether occurring in or 7 out of the workplace, can impair an employee’s work 8 performance, require time away from work, and un- 9 dermine the employee’s ability to maintain a job. 10 Nearly 50 percent of sexual assault survivors lose 11 their jobs or are forced to quit in the aftermath of 12 the assaults. 13 (7) In a study commission by the Office on Vio- 14 lence Against Women of the Department of Justice, 15 66 percent of respondents said an abusive partner 16 had disrupted their ability to complete education or 17 training through tactics such as not allowing them 18 access to money to pay for school, socially isolating 19 the survivor, controlling or monitoring their mobility, 20 using physical or sexual violence, and damaging or 21 destroying personal property. 22 (8) Studies find that 60 percent of single 23 women lack economic security and 81 percent of 24 households with single mothers live in economic inse- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 627 IS curity. Significant barriers survivors confront in- 1 clude housing, transportation, and child care. Nine- 2 ty-two percent of homeless women have experienced 3 domestic violence, and more than 50 percent cite do- 4 mestic violence as the direct cause for homelessness. 5 Survivors are deprived of their autonomy, liberty, 6 and security, and face tremendous threats to their 7 health and safety. 8 (9) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 9 vention report that survivors of severe intimate part- 10 ner violence lose nearly 8,000,000 days of paid work, 11 which is the equivalent of more than 32,000 full- 12 time jobs and almost 5,600,000 days of household 13 productivity each year. Therefore, women dispropor- 14 tionately need time off to care for their health or to 15 find safety solutions, such as obtaining a restraining 16 order or finding housing, to avoid or prevent further 17 violence. 18 (10) Annual costs of intimate partner violence 19 are estimated over $8,300,000,000. According to the 20 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 21 costs of intimate partner violence against women in 22 1995 exceeded an estimated $5,800,000,000. These 23 costs included nearly $4,100,000,000 in the direct 24 costs of medical and mental health care and nearly 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 627 IS $1,800,000,000 in the indirect costs of lost produc- 1 tivity. These statistics are generally considered to be 2 underestimated because the costs associated with the 3 criminal justice system are not included. 4 (11) Fifty-five percent of senior executives re- 5 cently surveyed said domestic violence has a harmful 6 effect on their company’s productivity, and more 7 than 70 percent said domestic violence negatively af- 8 fects attendance. Seventy-eight percent of human re- 9 sources professionals consider partner violence a 10 workplace issue. However, more than 70 percent of 11 United States workplaces have no formal program or 12 policy that addresses workplace violence, let alone 13 domestic violence. In fact, only four percent of em- 14 ployers provided training on domestic violence. 15 (12) Studies indicate that one of the best pre- 16 dictors of whether a survivor will be able to stay 17 away from his or her abuser is the degree of his or 18 her economic independence. However, domestic vio- 19 lence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking 20 often negatively impact a survivor’s ability to main- 21 tain employment. 22 (13) Abusers frequently seek to exert financial 23 control over their partners by actively interfering 24 with their ability to work, including preventing their 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 627 IS partners from going to work, harassing their part- 1 ners at work, limiting their partners’ access to cash 2 or transportation, and sabotaging their partners’ 3 child care arrangements. 4 (14) Economic abuse refers to behaviors that 5 control an intimate partner’s ability to acquire, use, 6 and maintain access to, money, credit, ownership of 7 assets, or access to governmental or private financial 8 benefits, including defaulting on joint obligations 9 (e.g. school loans, credit card debt, mortgage, or 10 rent). Other forms may include preventing someone 11 from attending school, threatening to or actually ter- 12 minating employment, controlling or withholding ac- 13 cess to cash, checking, or credit accounts, attempts 14 to damage or sabotage an intimate partner’s credit- 15 worthiness, including forcing a survivor to write bad 16 checks, including forcing a survivor to default on 17 payments related to household needs, such as hous- 18 ing, or forcing a survivor into bankruptcy. 19 (15) The Patient Protection and Affordable 20 Care Act (Public Law 111–148), and the amend- 21 ments made by such Act, ensures that most health 22 plans must cover preventive services, including 23 screening and counseling for domestic violence, at no 24 additional cost. In addition, it prohibits insurance 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 627 IS companies from discriminating against patients for 1 preexisting conditions, like domestic violence. 2 (16) Yet, more can be done to help survivors. 3 Federal law in effect on the day before the date of 4 enactment of this Act does not explicitly— 5 (A) authorize survivors of domestic vio- 6 lence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalk- 7 ing to take leave from work to seek legal assist- 8 ance and redress, counseling, or assistance with 9 safety planning activities; 10 (B) address the eligibility of survivors of 11 domestic violence, dating violence, sexual as- 12 sault, or stalking for unemployment compensa- 13 tion; 14 (C) provide job protection to survivors of 15 domestic violence, dating violence, sexual as- 16 sault, or stalking; 17 (D) prohibit insurers and employers who 18 self-insure employee benefits from discrimi- 19 nating against survivors of domestic violence, 20 dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and 21 those who help them in determining eligibility, 22 rates charged, and standards for payment of 23 claims; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 627 IS (E) prohibit insurers from disclosing infor- 1 mation about abuse and the location of the sur- 2 vivors through insurance databases and other 3 means. 4 (17) October is National Domestic Violence 5 Awareness Month. 6 (18) This Act aims to empower survivors of do- 7 mestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or 8 stalking to be free from violence, hardship, and con- 9 trol, which restrains basic human rights to freedom 10 and safety in the United States. 11 TITLE I—REAUTHORIZATION OF 12 NATIONAL RESOURCE CEN- 13 TER GRANTS ON WORKPLACE 14 RESPONSES TO ASSIST SUR- 15 VIVORS OF DOMESTIC AND 16 SEXUAL VIOLENCE 17 SEC. 101. GRANT PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION. 18 (a) INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE TO SURVIVOR 19 SERVICE PROVIDERS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZA- 20 TIONS.—Section 41501(a) of the Violence Against Women 21 Act of 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12501(a)) is amended by striking 22 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘, and to survivor serv- 23 ices organizations (as defined in section 201 of the Secu- 24 rity And Financial Empowerment Act of 2019) (including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S627.IS S627 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 627 IS community based organizations) and tribal, State, and ter- 1 ritorial domestic violence or sexual assault coalitions to en- 2 able the organizations and coalitions to provide resource 3 materials or other assistance to employers, labor organiza- 4 tions, or employees.’’. 5 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.—Section 41501 6 of the Viole [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]