Update: VICTORY!

After a long, hard battle, the Virginia legislature passed our third version of Alicia's Law, creating a new, permanent source of funding for the state's two Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces: fees and fines paid by criminal offenders. Special thanks to Erik Estrada, better known as "Ponch" from the CHiPS television show, who arrived in Richmond to help drive the bill over the finish line.

Bill Number:

Funding: Budget Amendments
Accountability: HB 736 / SB 284

Brief Description:

FUNDING: Provides a dedicated stream of funding for Virginia's two Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces that interdict child pornography traffickers and locate child victims in Virginia. 

ACCOUNTABILITY: Expands the Virginia Child Protection Accountability System to include data from courts.

Background: In 2008, PROTECT fought hard in Virginia to win desperately needed resources for law enforcement teams that "go back through the Internet" to catch child pornography traffickers and rescue their victims. Alicia's Law was a major victory, named for a brave PROTECT member and fighter Alicia Kozakiewicz, who at age 13 was rescued from an abductor in Virginia.

In March of 2008, the Virginia legislature voted to provide Virginia's two Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces with $1.5 million in new state funding, resulting in even more children being rescued.

Virginia's two ICAC task forces didn't just talk about how they were going to use Alicia's Law money...they got to work. In the year since, dozens of children have been rescued from living nightmares, thanks to Alicia and thanks to PROTECT members like you.

In 2010, Alicia returned for a third time to Richmond, Virginia, accompanied by her parents, PROTECT and Ed Smart of the Surviving Parents Coalition. This time, PROTECT fought for a permanent funding source for the ICACs.