On April 7, 2003, Senators Leahy and Kennedy introduced the Crime Victims Assistance Act of 2003, S. 805. This bill represents an important step in Congress’s continuing efforts to provide assistance and afford respect to victims of crime. The bill will accomplish three major goals. First, it will provide enhanced rights and protections for victims of federal crimes. Second, it will assist victims of State crimes through grant programs designed to promote compliance with State victim’s rights laws. Third, it will improve the manner in which the Crime Victims Fund is managed and preserved. MOVA helped craft a section of the bill that establishes grants to develop interdisciplinary coordinated service programs for victims of crime. Grants would be awarded to develop case management programs that can coordinate the various systems and programs that impact or assist victims, thereby streamlining access to services and reducing “revictimization” within the criminal justice system. Emergency interdisciplinary coordinated service programs will respond to events that have serious consequences on a particular community, such as terrorist attacks. Amounts authorized are $6 million for each of the next four fiscal years.