Rinck wants $8 million for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. The mayor's budget ends smaller grants

Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck (Position 8) is asking the City Council to add $8 million to Mayor Katie Wilson's proposed budget for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Her request comes as the mayor's plan ends several smaller funding lines for those services, and as the city's latest revenue forecast leaves little room for additions.

Rinck announced the campaign, called "Seattle Stands with Survivors, Every Step," on Oct. 14, according to a Council release. The money would stabilize and expand programs in three areas: accountability and justice, direct services for survivors including legal advocacy, and prevention. "We cannot be serious about public safety in this city without also being serious about gender-based violence," Rinck said, as quoted by The Urbanist.

Why it matters to residents: the release says nearly one-third of Seattle Police Department cases referred to the City Attorney involve domestic violence, and that more than 1,700 domestic violence cases are waiting for review by the City Attorney's Domestic Violence Unit.

What the mayor's budget does

According to The Urbanist, the proposed 2027 budget:

• ends $500,000 in one-time funding for gender-based violence services;
• ends $400,000 in one-time funding for work on commercial sexual exploitation;
• cuts $285,000 from an Office for Civil Rights program that funds community-led domestic violence response and prevention.

Rinck aims to restore those amounts as part of her request, The Urbanist reported. Her office acknowledged that a flat revenue forecast could make the full $8 million hard to win.

A related request comes from Councilmember Dionne Foster (Position 9), who plans an amendment adding a one-time $1 million to help the City Attorney's Office clear its case backlog. City Attorney Erika Evans has said 1,700 of the 5,000 backlogged cases her office inherited are domestic violence cases, The Urbanist reported. Evans said in the Council release that a backlog "sustained over multiple administrations cannot be solved without additional prosecutorial resources."

The release also points to falling outside money: federal Victims of Crime Act funding for Washington dropped from $74.7 million in 2018 to $17.8 million in 2024, with the state providing temporary backfills.

What our records add

Gender-based violence was one of the stated purposes of a tax voters approved last year. The Council voted 9-0 on Aug. 4, 2025 to send Rinck's business and occupation tax measure, known as Seattle Shield, to the ballot (CB 121028). The Council's announcement at the time listed "gender-based violence programs" among the services the revenue was meant to protect, alongside food access and emergency shelter.

The fight runs through Rinck's own committee. Rinck chairs the Human Services, Labor, and Economic Development Committee, where she plans to bring a Statement of Legislative Intent requiring departments to report on progress, according to the release. Foster is that committee's vice chair. See their records on the Position 8 and Position 9 pages.

Rinck's bills have recently passed with broad support, though she is often outvoted on split decisions. Two of her ordinances, on domestic worker standards (CB 121266) and sexual orientation protections (CB 121278), passed 9-0 on Sept. 15. Her algorithmic pricing ban (CB 121267), co-sponsored with Foster and Rob Saka, passed 7-2 on Sept. 22. In the City Clerk roll calls we track, Rinck has cast 16 no votes, the most of any current member, and voted with the majority on about 41 percent of divided votes, including voting no on four of the six RV permit bills on Oct. 20.

The departments involved are on next week's agenda. The City Attorney's Office (Inf 2994) and the Office for Civil Rights (Inf 2996) are scheduled for Council budget proposals on Oct. 27. The Human Services Department (Inf 3014) follows on Oct. 29.

What's next

Formal briefings on Council amendments begin Oct. 27. The public hearing is Nov. 5 and the final budget vote is scheduled for Nov. 20, according to the Select Budget Committee schedule. Any amount added would have to fit within a revenue forecast that grew by only about $8.8 million across three years, which we explain in Seattle's October revenue forecast.