Gov. Bill Lee will include $20 million in the state’s budget for victim-led agencies that have been issuing public pleas for weeks to keep the doors open in the face of sudden cuts in federal grants.

Sexual assault centres, domestic violence shelters, and child abuse counseling agencies — many people work with law enforcement to bring perpetrators to justice — have seen shared funding for crime victims that have fallen from their $68 million peak last year in 2018.

In response to these cuts, 35 other states have taken action to provide state funding. Tennessee has never been one of them.

“Some of the Victim Services Unit struggles to provide the services they need, especially for our law enforcement agencies and for our state’s crime victims,” ​​said Jim Bryson, Commissioner of the Department of Finance Management, when he presented lawmakers with supplemental budget proposals on Tuesday.

The governor’s funds, $10 million grants for each of the next two years, have not reached a $25 million request for repeated state funding, which the coalition of state nonprofits said they need to preserve current services.

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Advocates were disappointed when the governor’s budget initially didn’t include state funding for crime victims, but they still called it an important first step, but still seeks funding for committed crime victims in the long term.

“The funding is a key recognition of the emergency crisis facing Tennessee victim service providers,” said Stephen Warner, executive director of the Tennessee Children’s Advocacy Center for Children’s Advocacy, which provides counseling and other services to abused children.

Woerner highlighted the need for adequate and sustainable funding over the long term.

Crime Victims Act, or Voca funds, rely on fees and fines collected from individuals charged in federal court. It saw a dramatic decline in the collection as prosecutors made a coordinated shift to accept more plea deals. This is a trend ahead of the current Trump administration.

Short-term infusions of funds in the Covid era helped to bridge the gap, but these funds are now over.

Overall, the Tennessee organizations that receive Voca Grants serve more than 95,000 victims in Tennessee each year, according to the state’s Office of Criminal Justice Programs.