It’s been clear to me for some time that prevention of gender-based violent crime is one of the most severely underfunded categories in our County mission. I recently co-chaired a Santa Clara County Board Committee that created a $5 million ongoing annual reserve for fighting sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking.

We are now more able to fight against gender-based violent crimes and improve services representing law enforcement, investigators and prosecutors, medical professionals, behavioral health, education, survivor services and prevention programs.

Supervisor Cindy Chavez and I were able to get a backlog of untested rape kits reduced. The board developed and implemented policies to ensure that every rape kit in Santa Clara County is tested within 30 days.