The State Victims Assistance Act (SVAA) was passed by the Ohio Legislature and signed into law in 1984, and establishes the Crime Victim Services Section (CVS) of the Ohio Attorney General's Office (OAG). CVS administers the Crime Victims Fund, made up of court costs paid by offenders, driver's license reinstatement fees, and federal grant monies to provide compensation to innocent victims of violent crime who have suffered an unrecoverable economic loss as a result of their victimization, and also administers VOCA and SVAA grants. The guidelines, eligibility requirements, and application process for VOCA and SVAA grants are very similar. This application may be used for either or both types of grants, and differences between the two programs will be highlighted throughout these guidelines.
Under VOCA, priority shall be given to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. Thus, a minimum of 10% of each federal fiscal year's grant (30% total) will be allocated to each of these categories of crime victims.
Under SVAA, financial aid to crime victim assistance programs shall be based upon the following priorities.
- Programs in existence on July 1, 1985 shall be given first priority.
- Programs established after July 1, 1985 or new programs proposing to offer the broadest range of services and referrals to the community shall be given second priority. Experience and expertise in providing quality services, financial stability, and compliance with administrative requirements are taken into account.
- Other qualified programs shall be given last priority.
Simply put, allowable expenses are those that provide a direct service to crime victims. Some services, activities, and costs may be allowable even though they do not constitute direct service to crime victims. Before being allowed, however, OAG must agree in writing that direct services to crime victims cannot be offered without support for these expenses, that the subrecipient has no other source of support for them, and that only limited amounts of grant funds will be used for these purposes. A more exhaustive list of allowable expenses can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/07/08/2016-16085/victims-of-crime-act-victim-assistance-program.
None is available.