HR 1248 would reauthorize and make key improvements in programs created by the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. Those programs include: law enforcement and prosecution grants to combat violence against women, national domestic violence hotline, battered women’s shelter and services, grants for community initiatives, education and training for judges and court personnel, grants to encourage arrest policies, rural domestic violence and child abuse enforcement, national stalker and domestic violence reduction, federal victims’ counselors, education and prevention grants to reduce sexual abuse of runaway, homeless, and street youth, victims of child abuse, and rape prevention education. It would also create new programs, including civil legal assistance for victims, safe havens for children pilot program, protections against violence and abuse for women with disabilities, standards, practice and training for sexual assault examinations, and a requirement that a domestic violence task force report back to Congress on any overlapping or duplication of Federal agency efforts addressing domestic violence.