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The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is revising its program rules in 28 CFR part 94,"Crime Victim Services" to make two sets of changes, one set under this RIN and one set under the RIN 1121-NYD. 

The rulemaking under this RIN will add a new subpart C "Victim Compensation Grant Program” to part 94 in order to replace and update the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA) formula Victim Compensation Program Guidelines. This rulemaking will also make related updates to in subpart B VOCA "Victim Assistance Program" of part 94.

The other set of changes OVC intends to make pertain to subpart A "International Terrorism Victim Expense Reimbursement Program" (ITVERP) of part 94 . (See RIN 1121-AA91.) 

In preparing the NPRM for the revisions to the VOCA Compensation and Assistance Programs, OVC conducted extensive outreach to various stakeholders. This outreach included several discussion sessions involving crime victims, State VOCA Compensation and Assistance administrators, American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes (including OVC’s tribal grantees), victim service organizations serving AI/AN tribes, victim advocates, and others. Discussions included seven virtual webinar sessions conducted in May and June 2022, and June 2023. OVC also conducted outreach at national conferences including the National Joint Training Conference for VOCA Victim Assistance and Compensation Administrators, held virtually in August 2022, and in-person in Chicago, Illinois, in August 2023.  In-person outreach additionally included a discussion session with AI/AN tribes at OVC’s Indian Nations Conference, which took place on the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Reservation in December 2022, and a roundtable discussion with a crime survivor, VOCA Compensation administrators, and national advocacy organizations, at the Office for Victims of Crime in Washington D.C. in January 2023. In particular, OVC’s efforts at outreach to AI/AN tribes and tribal victim service organizations, was designed to facilitate input from, and related to, tribal victims of crime, who often face unique obstacles to accessing State compensation programs.