BILL WOULD RESTORE FUNDS TO SHELTERS FROM VIOLENCE.

Byline: - Helen Gao

A bill that would restore funding for 10 domestic violence shelters - including centers in Glendale and Pasadena - was approved Tuesday by the Senate Public Safety Committee.

Sponsored by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Pasadena, Senate Bill 1712 would provide $4 million for shelters whose grants were not renewed last fall by the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

The funding would last until the shelters are able to reapply for the next grant cycle, which begins in 2004.

Wayne Page, executive director of the Glendale YWCA, which provides various programs for domestic violence victims, said she will join with other agencies to lobby for passage of the bill.

``It makes my day,'' said Page, when she was told about the bill. ``I am going to get on the e-mails and phones to the other agencies.''

According to Page, a large portion of the funding for the YWCA's 29- year-old domestic violence project - the only one of its kind in Glendale - comes from the state.

The agency received $207,000 this fiscal year to operate its shelter, transitional housing, outreach and 24-hour hotline services.

Without the state funding, Page said, her organization would have had to scramble to find outside sources to pay for the programs.

Last fall, the YWCA, Pasadena's Haven House and other domestic violence shelters lost their funding after the Office of Criminal Justice Planning adopted a new set of rules to select grant recipients.

Criticized as arbitrary, the rules are now being revised so that shelters that lost funding would be eligible for grants in the future.