Advocate for change with KCSARC
2026-27 STATE BUDGET UPDATE:
Crime victim services receive critical funding
On May 20, 2025, Governor Ferguson signed the 2026-27 biennial state budget, which contains $20 million for the next year to support crime victim services statewide, including for sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and other survivors of violence.
This is critical — if temporary — one-year backfill that will help prevent the most severe cuts to survivor services statewide in the 2026 state fiscal year that runs July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
We thank supporters for joining our collective voice for survivors in a challenging budget year. Whether you attended last December’s Rally for Victims, reached out to state lawmakers and the governor, and/or told others about what was happening, your actions strengthened our advocacy.
While we were disappointed that SB 5362/HB 1487, legislation that would have stabilized crime victim services now and into the future did not pass this year, we will continue to advocate for a long-term solution.
About our advocacy
KCSARC works at the state, local and federal level to strengthen public policies and resources that support survivors of sexual assault. Together with our supporters, partners, and with courageous survivors who participate in our Empowered Voices program, we are proud of the strides we’ve made on a number of fronts.
- Services at risk: We alerted state legislators that rising demand for services paired with both steep decreases in federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding and two decades of level state funding put availability of victim services at risk. State lawmakers have responded in recent years with one-time supplemental appropriations in the state budget. That stopgap funding helped temporarily stave off further reductions in services for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and other violent crimes. With our statewide and local partners, KCSARC will continue to advocate at all levels of government for funding and permanent resources that stabilize victim services.
- Preventing sexual abuse, now and in the future: We have ensured every K-12 student in the state of Washington can access comprehensive sexual health education and with it, foundational lessons that better help identify sexual abuse and prevent sexual violence from happening.
- Increased access and removed barriers to Sexual Assault Protection Orders: Survivors can now seek SAPO protections effective for up to a lifetime. In 2021, we supported landmark legislation that removed barriers to protection orders for survivors.
- Eliminated the Statute of Limitations to prosecute child sexual abuse, and increased the time for adult victims to come forward.
- Called for prioritization of sexual assault survivors awaiting justice in the criminal justice system in King County — see our “Long Wait” report, and its 2024 follow up, Navigating Justice, which examined the experiences and outcomes of 408 victims in the King County Superior Court system.
- Co-hosted the first-ever Summit on Crime Survivors held in King County in 2025, bringing together survivors, advocates, community groups, prosecutors, law enforcement, judges and elected officials to focus what crime survivors and their families need to recover and heal.
There’s more to do — and we need your help
We need to ensure every victim is able to speak their truth — and be heard. We’re working to stabilize supportive community resources for survivors, and for laws that protect survivors, uphold their rights and prevent further harm when they engage in the criminal justice system.
Join our email alert system to be the first to know when it’s time to speak up with your legislators about policies that impact survivors. We’ll let you know what the issue is and how to contact the right decision-makers.