New federal grant funds faith-community training on domestic violence response

What it does

This bill creates a $2 million annual grant program (2027–2031) to establish a national resource center providing training and technical assistance on domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking within faith communities. The center, run by a consortium of faith-based and culturally specific organizations, will educate clergy, faith leaders, victim service providers, and law enforcement on trauma-informed responses to abuse while explicitly prohibiting organizations that prioritize family cohesion or oppose divorce over victim safety.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a grant program funding training and technical assistance on domestic violence response in faith communities. It is a public-health and victim-advocacy measure, not a commemorative, tax, or regulatory bill.

What the text implies

• The bill's explicit exclusion of organizations prioritizing 'family cohesion' or 'opposition to divorce' over victim safety may create tension with some conservative faith traditions and could limit participation by certain religious organizations, potentially narrowing the faith-community partnerships the bill aims to build.
• The requirement that consortiums include 'at least two faith-based organizations representing different underserved faith communities' may inadvertently exclude smaller or less-organized faith traditions that lack formal nonprofit infrastructure, limiting the center's reach.
• The bill authorizes the Attorney General to develop 'model State legislative language' on religious divorce denial, which could lead to state-level laws that interfere with religious arbitration or internal faith-community dispute resolution, raising First Amendment concerns if implementation is not carefully bounded.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill funds training and technical assistance to improve how faith communities and victim-service providers respond to domestic violence and sexual assault, with explicit safeguards against prioritizing family cohesion or religious doctrine over victim safety. Survivors in faith communities—a population often underserved by mainstream victim services—gain access to culturally competent support and legal advocacy.

Who stands to gain

• faith-based nonprofit organizations (as grant recipients)
• culturally specific victim-service organizations
• tribal organizations

Named in the bill

Attorney General, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), faith-based nonprofits, culturally specific organizations, tribal organizations, victim service providers, law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, child protective services

Where it stands

8 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 3 Republicans.

• May 14, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• May 14, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 14 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Lois Frankel, the sponsor, reported $555,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Conference of Provincials of North America — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.