Capitol Weekly Podcast: Scott Soriano on rape crisis centers

Reporter Scott Soriano joins John Howard and Tim foster to talk about his detailed, three-part series in Capitol Weekly on California’s rape crisis centers.

These nongovernmental organizations — there are only 84 of them in the entire state — provide crucial support to survivors of sexual assault, who often have nowhere else to turn. The value of the work performed by the centers is not in dispute — but who should pay for it is. While California has experienced a steady rise in the number of reported rapes (over 5% per year since 2015), the state’s annual General Fund contribution to rape crisis centers over the past decade has been just $45,000.

Remarkably, all of that money has gone to just one of the state’s centers. In the state budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year, however, California upped its contribution to $5 million — only to drop funding back to $45,000 for the current fiscal year. And no one seems to know why.