168 
sisted housing provider may provide benefits to 
an individual based solely on the individual’s 
statement or other corroborating evidence but is 
not mandated to do so. 
‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—All information pro-
vided to an owner, manager, public housing 
agency, or assisted housing provider pursuant 
to paragraph (1), including the fact that an in-
dividual is a victim of domestic violence, dating 
violence, sexual assault, or stalking, shall be re-
tained in the strictest confidence by such owner, 
manager, public housing agency, or assisted 
housing provider, and shall neither be entered 
into any shared database, nor provided to any 
related entity, except to the extent that disclo-
sure is— 
‘‘(i) requested or consented to by the 
individual in writing; or 
‘‘(ii) otherwise required by applicable 
law. 
‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION.—An individual must 
be notified of the limits of such confidentiality 
and informed in advance about circumstances
169 
in which the person or entity will be compelled 
to disclose the individual’s information.’’. 
SEC. 607. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC HOUSING PRO-
GRAM. 
Section 6 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 
(42 U.S.C. 1437d) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (c), by redesignating para-
graph (3) and (4), as paragraphs (4) and (5), re-
spectively; 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) the public housing agency shall not deny 
admission to the project to any applicant on the 
basis that the applicant is or is perceived to be, or 
has been or has been perceived to be, a victim of do-
mestic violence, dating violence, or stalking’’; 
(3) in subsection (l)(5), by inserting after 
‘‘other good cause’’ the following: ‘‘, and that an in-
cident or incidents of actual or threatened domestic 
violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking 
will not be construed as a serious or repeated viola-
tion of the lease by the victim or threatened victim 
of that violence and will not be good cause for termi-
nating a lease held by the victim of such violence’’;
170 
(4) in subsection (l)(6), by inserting after ‘‘ter-
mination of tenancy’’ the following: ‘‘; except that 
(A) criminal activity directly relating to domestic vi-
olence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, 
engaged in by a member of a tenant’s household or 
any guest or other person under the tenant’s control 
shall not be cause for termination of the tenancy, if 
the tenant or immediate member of the tenant’s 
family is a victim of domestic violence, dating vio-
lence, sexual assault, or stalking and, as a result 
could not control or prevent the criminal activity; 
(B) nothing in subparagraph (A) may be construed 
to limit the authority of a public housing agency, 
consistent with applicable State laws, to evict or the 
public housing agency or assisted housing provider 
to terminate voucher assistance to individuals who 
engage in criminal acts of physical violence against 
family members or others; ‘‘; and (C) nothing in 
subparagraph (A) may be construed to limit the au-
thority of a public housing agency, consistent with 
applicable State law, to terminate the tenancy of any 
tenant if the public housing agency can demonstrate 
an actual and imminent threat to the larger commu-
nity if that tenant’s tenancy is not terminated’’; and
171 
(5) by inserting at the end of subsection (t) the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(u) CERTIFICATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY.— 
‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A public housing 
agency responding to subsection (l) (5) and (6) 
may request that an individual certify that the 
individual is a victim of domestic violence, dat-
ing violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and 
that the incident or incidents in question are 
bona fide incidents of such actual or threatened 
abuse and meet the requirements set forth in 
the aforementioned paragraphs. The individual 
shall provide a copy of such certification within 
a reasonable period of time after the public 
housing agency requests such certification. 
‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—An individual may sat-
isfy the certification requirement of subpara-
graph (A) by— 
‘‘(i) providing the requesting public 
housing agency with documentation signed 
by an employee, agent, or volunteer of a 
victim service provider, an attorney, a 
member of the clergy, a medical profes-
sional, or any other professional, from
172 
whom the victim has sought assistance in 
addressing domestic violence, dating vio-
lence, sexual assault, or stalking or the ef-
fects of the abuse; or 
‘‘(ii) producing a Federal, State, trib-
al, territorial, or local police or court 
record. 
‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—At the public housing 
agency’s discretion, a public housing agency 
may provide benefits to an individual based 
solely on the individual’s statement or other 
corroborating evidence but is not mandated to 
do so. 
‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—All information pro-
vided to any public housing agency pursuant to 
paragraph (1), including the fact that an indi-
vidual is a victim of domestic violence, dating 
violence, sexual assault, or stalking, shall be re-
tained in the strictest confidence by such public 
housing agency, and shall neither be entered 
into any shared database, nor provided to any 
related entity, except to the extent that disclo-
sure is—
173 
‘‘(i) requested or consented to by the 
individual in writing; or 
‘‘(ii) otherwise required by applicable 
law. 
‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION.—An individual must 
be notified of the limits of such confidentiality 
and informed in advance about circumstances 
in which the person or entity will be compelled 
to disclose the individual’s information. 
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section and subsection (l) (5) and (6)— 
‘‘(A) the term ‘domestic violence’ has the 
same meaning given the term in section 2003 
of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg– 
2); 
‘‘(B) the term ‘dating violence’ has the 
same meaning given the term in section 2003 
of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg– 
2); 
‘‘(C) the term ‘stalking’ means engaging in 
a course of conduct directed at a specific person 
that would cause a reasonable person to—
174 
‘‘(i) fear for his or her safety or the 
safety of others; or 
‘‘(ii) suffer significant emotional dis-
tress; and 
‘‘(D) the term ‘sexual assault’ has the 
same meaning given the term in section 2003 
of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg– 
2).’’. 
TITLE 
VII—PROVIDING 
ECO-
NOMIC SECURITY FOR VIC-
TIMS OF VIOLENCE 
SEC. 701. EMERGENCY LEAVE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Violence Against Women Act 
of 1994 (Public Law 103–322; 108 Stat. 1902) is amend-
ed by adding after subtitle M the following: 
‘‘Subtitle Q—Assistance for Individ-
uals Experiencing Domestic or 
Sexual Violence 
‘‘CHAPTER 1—EMERGENCY LEAVE 
‘‘SEC. 41701. PURPOSES. 
‘‘The purposes of this chapter are, pursuant to the 
affirmative power of Congress to enact legislation under 
the portions of section 8 of article I of the Constitution 
relating to providing for the general welfare and to regula-
175 
tion of commerce among the several States, and under sec-
tion 5 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution— 
‘‘(1) to promote the national interest in reduc-
ing domestic or sexual violence by enabling victims 
of domestic or sexual violence to maintain the finan-
cial independence necessary to leave abusive situa-
tions, achieve safety, and minimize the physical and 
emotional injuries from domestic or sexual violence, 
and to reduce the devastating economic con-
sequences of domestic or sexual violence to employ-
ers and employees; 
‘‘(2) to promote the national interest in ensur-
ing that victims of domestic or sexual violence can 
recover from and cope with the effects of such vio-
lence, and participate in criminal and civil justice 
processes, without fear of adverse economic con-
sequences; and 
‘‘(3) to reduce the negative impact on interstate 
commerce produced by dislocations of employees and 
harmful effects on productivity, employment, health 
care costs, and employer costs, caused by domestic 
or sexual violence, including related intentional ef-
forts to frustrate women’s ability to participate in 
employment and interstate commerce.