Illinois lawmakers have passed a controversial tax that aids victims of sexual assault. The bill will charge strip club customers a $3 surcharge and the money will go to state funded rape crisis centers.
"We see children, adults, males and females," says Shelly Brantley, Director of Crisis Services at the YWCA of the Sauk Valley.
The YWCA of the Sauk Valley is a place victims of sexual assault can turn for help. The center is the only rape crisis center in Whiteside County and Lee County.
"We serve over a hundred victims of sexual assault per year and about 19,000 people participate in our public education programs," adds Brantley.
Over the past few years, the YWCA and other state funded rape crisis centers have seen a 28% drop in funding.
"We had to cut our staff by about 20% in the sexual assault program in the last few years," says Executive Director Carol Fitzgerald, "We've been scrambling to keep up with the numbers that we've been able to serve."
Crucial programs, such as counseling, advocacy services, a 24-hour hotline, and public education, have not been cut.
"Often when we're doing education services that's when we find the victims. Speaking to kids in schools, that's when kids come forward and say this happened to me," adds Fitzgerald.
The center would like to do more, but they need a reliable source of funding. Officials at the crisis center support receiving funding by charging strip club customers a $3 surcharge. The tax is expected to bring in about $2 million a year.
"It is true that in the area of strip clubs violent crimes, including sexual assaults do increase and it's important for there to be accountability," says Fitzgerald.
The bill is on Governor's Quinn's desk and the center is hoping he signs it right away.
Fitzgerald says, "Victims of sexual assault and their families are counting on you Governor. There is no other way to get that help and we need that help."
