Supes allocate funds to Catalyst

Catalyst Domestic Violence Services celebrated a victory Tuesday (Aug. 13) when the Butte County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 (Supervisors Bill Connelly and Steve Lambert dissented) to allocate funds generated from a new tax on domestic-violence convictions to the nonprofit.

The question of which agency would receive the funds (about $30,000 annually) has been a hot topic since July, when the board granted District Attorney Mike Ramsey’s request that the funds generated from A.B. 2405, a state law allocating such funds for domestic-violence prevention programs, go toward the DA’s intervention programs.

Catalyst officials asked the board to reconsider its decision, saying that the DA’s intervention programs do not provide the prevention programs and widespread community outreach that Assemblyman Juan Arambula’s bill specifically called for.

“I think the board heard that [Arambula’s] intent was to do work before the crime occurs,” said Catalyst Executive Director Anastacia Snyder (pictured). “We felt that our prevention work met that definition.”