Committee unanimously backs Sen. Duson bill to support sexual assault response advocates

Posted: April 04, 2023 | Health and Human Services, Senator Duson

AUGUSTA — On Tuesday, the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee voted unanimously in favor of a bill from Sen. Jill Duson, D-Portland, to provide additional funding for sexual assault response services in Maine. LD 566, “An Act to Provide Funding for Sexual Assault Services,” received a vote of 12-0 with one member absent.

Senator Jill Duson

“Sexual assault advocates do incredible, difficult work every day to help victims of assault become survivors of assault. They deserve, at the very least, the respect of a living wage. This bill will ensure they have just that, and in turn will help them better support those in need,” said Sen. Duson. “I’m so grateful to the committee for this strong, bipartisan support.”

LD 566 would invest more than $3 million over the next two fiscal years to support sexual assault response services: $1,230,000 for 2023-24 and $1,830,000 for 2024-25. These funds would help increase salaries for sexual assault response advocates from $32,000 to $45,000, which would place their wages on par with that of teachers. The funds would also be put toward additional services for organizations serving populations disproportionately impacted by sexual violence.

According to statistics from the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault

  • 1 in 5 Mainers experience sexual assault at some point in their lifetime. 
  • Each year, 14,000 Mainers will experience sexual violence. 
  • Approximately 7.5% of Maine high school students (10.8% of girls and 4.0% of boys) report that they have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse; 18.4% of Maine high school students (26.4% of girls and 10.6% of boys) report having been the target of offensive sexual comments at school or on the way to or from school.
  • In 2019, about 20% of callers to Maine’s sexual assault crisis and support line were from men, and approximately 50% of all calls related to child sexual abuse. 

“When I served as the state’s Director of Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, I had the opportunity to be directly involved in programs offered through Maine’s seven Sexual Assault Support Centers and Child Advocacy Centers,” said Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, lead co-sponsor on the bill. “This allowed me to see firsthand just how critical these programs are for survivors of sexual violence. We must stand collectively to show appreciation for these advocates by increasing the salaries of those who provide such critical support for our communities.”

“I’ve been a forensic nurse for over nine years, that’s a lot of sexual assault patients I’ve cared for with an advocate at my side,” said Keri Kapaldo, with St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor, in testimony supporting the bill. “When I reflect on this I think about times when we sat in a chapel together because that’s where a survivor felt most comfortable. I think about when an advocate ran to McDonald’s at 1 a.m. because that’s the only food the survivor wanted in that moment. I think about times when they worked day and night to find safe shelter for someone being trafficked. I think about the times they’ve colored and played games for hours on the floor of the ER with a pediatric patient. When I think about the impact an advocate has had I think of the tiny, seemingly insignificant acts that add up to big hugs, smiles, and a glimmer of hope in the survivor.”

“As an Executive Director, I have struggled and strategized for years in how to enhance our services and programming to reach more people through increased skilled staffing, while consistently fighting against a limited workforce budget, staff retention and burnout, and the damaging loss of their expertise and trusted partnerships built within our communities,” said Arian Clements, Executive Director, Sexual Assault Support Services of Midcoast Maine. “The current funding structure for advocates … relies on young workers, taking entry level pay, doing trauma-filled work with nuanced and specialized skills, to perform until they can’t afford to any longer. It provides no path for their continued growth as professionals nor financial sustainability for them to invest their time and energy in this field long term. The result is advocates leaving the work for less stressful and higher paying jobs and the loss of their expertise and skills in support of survivors.”

LD 566 is also supported by the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault; the Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center; Aroostook Mental Health Center; Sisters in Arms Center in Augusta; Immigrant Resource Center of Maine; Downeast Children’s Advocacy Center; Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Services; Pine Tree Legal; Maine Trans Net; Disability Rights Maine; Wabanaki Women’s Coalition; and the Maine Chiefs of Police Association.

Maine’s sexual assault support hotline is 1-800-871-7741. In 2022, the 988 suicide and crisis hotline was launched nationwide.

LD 566 now faces votes in the Senate and House.