Together, change is possible. : sign up for legislative alerts

Since 1996, UCASA has been advocating for all victims and survivors of sexual violence, their families and utah's communities on the state level.

Our staff and members testify before state legislative committees, contact legislators and track bills that affect victims and survivors and the safety of our communities.

Additionally, the coalition attends meetings of state agencies to make the voices of survivors heard in discussion about victim services, sex offenders, the criminal justice system, technology, prevention work and many other issues.

Our membership and collaborators play a vital role in guiding our public policy work. We welcome your input, ideas and involvement. Information in this section is updated regularly throughout the year, and frequently during utah’s legislative session.

Support the 2008 Victim Treatment Fund and Sex Offender Treatment Funding Legislation

The Victim Treatment Fund would establish the first state funding stream specifically for sexual assault victim treatment services. Partial funding would come from sex offenders ordered to pay restitution or a fee in cases where there is no identifiable victim (such as child pornography cases) or cases where there is an identifiable victim, but the victim cannot be found and the restitution is unclaimed. Additional funding will also be requrested from the Utah General Fund to support sexual assault victim treatment services.

Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) funding will support Utah Department of Corrections efforts to treat incarcerated sex offenders. Since 1997, the number of incarcerated sex offenders has more than doubled. DOC currently only has the capacity to treat 200 offenders but in order to keep up with demand and ensure treatment completion prior to release, DOC would need to treat more than twice that number of offenders.

Contact Your Utah State Legislators Now

Legislators are encouraged to act when they hear a message from multiple sources. Your legislators need to hear from you now and throughout the session.

We've helped streamline the process for you to make it as quick and easy as possible:

1. Click on the links to the right (under tools) to find your Representative's and Senator's contact information.

2. Call and/or email your own Utah State Representative and Utah State Senator and urge them to act to help prevent rape and sexual assault in Utah and to better serve victims. (Use the sample email text/talking points provided below if you wish.)

3. If you work for a service provider, we also suggest that you contact the representatives for the district in which your center is located.

The following sample text contains succinct messages about key issues for this session. Feel free to cut and paste it directly (adding the appropriate names and contact information) or to modify it to better suit you.

Be sure to identify yourself by name and as a constituent and to include your email address, telephone number and address in emails.

To [Utah State Representative/Utah State Senator]:

As your constituent and [job title and organization] I am extremely concerned about the sexual violence occurring in our communities.Nearly one in three Utah women will experience some form of sexual violence in her lifetime.

As Utahns we pride ourselves on our safe state; however, rape is the only violent crime where Utah exceeds the national average. Yet, despite this alarming fact the State of Utah currently provides NO funding specifically for sexual assault victim services or rape prevention. For more detail regarding the significantly high number of sexual assaults in Utah please see a recent report provided by the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) http://www.justice.utah.gov/Research/SexOffender/RapeInUtah.pdf.

As the 2008 Legislative Session begins, I urge you to support the Victim Treatment Fund, that will help to sustain programs that provide sexual assault victim services, and funding for the Utah Department of Corrections Sex Offender Treatment Program.

I appreciate your public service as an elected official and look to you and your colleagues in addressing the issue of sexual assault.

Thank you for you consideration.
[Full Name, address, phone, email]

: utah state legislature

: find your representative

: find your senator

: utah citizen's guide

: utah rape laws

: child and minor sex offenses under utah law

utah members of u.s. congress

Congressman Rob Bishop (R-01) :contact
Tel. (202) 224-3121 TTY (202) 225-1904

Congressman James D. Matheson (D-02) :contact
Tel. (202) 225-3011

Congressman Christopher Cannon (R-03) :contact
Tel. (202) 225-7751

position papers

: the management of convicted sex offenders

: legislative analysis: adam walsh child protection and safety act of 2006

: tribal sovereignty

VAWA 2005 reauthorization analysis

the following utah specific analysis of sections of the violence against women act (vawa) 2005 reauthorization, is intended to assist individuals, agencies and communities in understanding utah's laws and level of compliance with this federal legislation.
:vawa 2005 reauthorization

previous legislative sessions

the legislature completed its 2007 session. to find out how sexual assault victim issues faired, read the :2007 legislative summary

: 2007 legislative session in review

: january 2007 legislative update and bills to watch

: 2006 legislative session in review