Public Policy

The California Partnership to End Domestic Violence has been instrumental in the enactment, passage and implementation and enforcement of strong, comprehensive legislation and policies that increase safety for victims of domestic violence and their children, hold batterers accountable and create sustainable funding sources for domestic violence programs and services. As part of its overall mission, CPEDV takes part in a number of policy and systems change activities:

• Providing statewide leadership on public policy issues by promoting legislation and systems/procedural change in order to improve institutional response to domestic violence
• Working with the court system to improve both civil and criminal court responses to domestic violence
• Collaborating with multiple stakeholder systems and organizations in policy and protocol development
• Strategizing for the prevention and elimination of domestic violence at the local, state and national levels

Public Policy and Research Committees (PPRC)

CPEDV monitors the development and implementation of state and federal laws that affect victims of domestic violence, non-profits, and domestic violence programs. We work closely with domestic violence advocates through our Public Policy and Research Committees (PPRC’s) to ensure that our public policy work meets the needs of survivors and programs across California. We also collaborate with Legislators, state officials and others.

CPEDV staff and membership attend public hearings, provide comments on proposed legislation, assist state agencies in policy development, serve on grant review committees, partner with state agencies on grants, assist in statewide training and resource development and provide expertise on issues in domestic violence. We provide public policy information to domestic violence victim advocates and allies in the movement. Lastly, CPEDV also holds annual Legislative workshops and a Legislative Action Day in order to inform members and elected representatives about legislation related to domestic violence.

Our PPRC members actively participate and engage in the development of CPEDV’s legislative priorities. The adoption of legislative priorities is the culmination of a process involving CPEDV members statewide.

Annual Member survey: Individual members complete the survey disseminated by CPEDV.

Ongoing feedback mechanisms: Leaders and staff receive feedback on legislative issues through state reports, committee calls with state leaders, member response and reports from regional representatives and public policy committee members.

Each year, CPEDV staff and members engage in a variety of public policy activities. These activities are identified by PPRC members, members at large and key stakeholders, with input and advice from staff. Criteria used for developing the public priority activities include viability, critical need, strong member support and potential for distinctive CPEDV contribution. While some of these activities culminate in legislation, some become established as sub-committee areas that are subsets of and run by PPRC members. Our current sub-committees are Domestic Violence Funding, Immigration and Domestic Violence, and Criminal Justice and Domestic Violence.

Sub-Committees

Domestic Violence Funding
The Domestic Violence Funding Initiative (DVFI) Sub-Committee of the PPRC works to develop and support funding proposal(s) that will sustain and enhance public and private funding and resources for domestic violence prevention and response.

Who are we?
A subset of PPRC that is made up of PPRC members throughout the state.

What do we do?

• Develop CPEDV-sponsored funding initiatives and proposals to support CPEDV members and the DV community as a whole.
• When needed, evaluate and make recommendations to PPRC members on externally-sponsored funding legislation and proposals.

Criminal & Civil Justice (formerly Domestic Violence Contempt Implementation Initiative)

Who are we?
Made up of statewide PPRC members. A sub-set of PPRC

What do we do?

• Our primary role is to be the advisory committee to create and implement SB1356 DV Contempt Law training curriculum.
• The Sub-Committee is also responsible for researching and providing recommendations to the statewide PPRC for DV contempt emerging topics in policy and systems change
• Develop and implement statewide DV contempt trainings
• Create and disseminate educational tools for the field
• Increase collaboration between advocates and prosecutors
• Expand CPEDV’s work with law enforcement

Immigration and Domestic Violence

Who are we?
Made up of statewide PPRC members, and are a sub-set of the PPRC

What do we do?

• Facilitate membership discussions and research regarding immigration and domestic violence statewide needs
• Act as advisory group to develop statewide and regional DV immigration trainings, educational tools, resources and networks
• Makes recommendations to PPRC & staff on the intersection of DV and immigration policy and systems change work
• Develop and implement trainings
• Create and disseminate resources
• Increase collaborations and facilitate discussions with key networks
• Expand the state’s policy & systems change work as it intersects within different structures and sub-committees (contempt, cps, custody, etc.)
• Support CPEDV’s Regions with systems change, and coordinate regional networks

Systems Change

CPEDV is committed to promote systems advocacy and enhanced service delivery that prioritizes the safety, needs and autonomy of individuals who have experienced domestic violence. The focus of systems change is to increase and improve access to services, community and systems response for all communities including un-served and underserved populations as well as children.

CPEDV engages in these and other systems change activities:

• Strategic grassroots advocacy mobilization
• Technical assistance on policy and systems change
• Membership support in systems change advocacy
• Coordination of PPRC sub-committees
• Coordination of trainings in collaboration with our Technical Assistance & Training Department
• Development and implementation of curriculums in support of legislation & other systems change tasks
• Networking/Building Partnerships and Resources
• Regional systems change requests; facilitation of local MOU process for DV Legal Assistance; building legal resources, maintaining referral directory and materials
• Participating in Working Groups/Meetings, including:
• Native American & AOC statewide meeting
• National funding calls
• National Forums on Immigration, provide leadership training to future advocates (youth)
• Membership Systems Change Requests
• Coordinating field response to emerging issues
• Connecting members on specific topic (Marriage License Fees, RFP’s, referrals, etc.)
• Collecting and organizing field data (i.e. budget impact, resources
• Responding to membership regional requests for resources/referrals
• Local mediation/support – Local Government, MLF’s, U Visas, Language Access, etc.