October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Advocates for abused women and children will host events throughout the state to draw attention to this serious problem.

The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence is a statewide coalition of shelters, safe homes, nonresidential programs and individuals addressing the needs of battered women and their children. According to FBI data, LCADV stated Louisiana consistently leads the nation in domestic homicides and has done so since 1997.

You might not think the Public Service Commission has much to do with domestic violence, but working with the utilities we regulate, the PSC has done its part. In 2007, the commission unanimously adopted my initiative to waive utility deposits for victims of domestic violence.

I learned of this idea from associates in Texas, where it began. Utility deposits can be a financial barrier to women seeking relief from an abusive spouse or boyfriend. Making a new home is difficult enough without the burden of paying deposits for electric, natural gas, telephone and water and sewer services. My research found that these deposits can easily cost $500 or more.

Women in abusive relationships often do not have credit, checking accounts or much cash. Financial straits can force them and their children to remain with the abuser.

According to the PSC rule, abuse victims can contact utilities and have these deposits waived. Documentation of their situations by law-enforcement officials, prosecutors or clergy is all that’s needed to make it happen.

A one-page form is posted on the PSC website, www.lpsc. louisiana.gov, to facilitate the process.

The commission does not track the use of its deposit waivers, but there are other indicators of how common is domestic abuse in Louisiana. On Sept. 15, 2010, the National Network to End Domestic Violence conducted a one-day census of domestic-violence services across the country.

All 20 LCADV member programs participated in the study, which was conducted on a 24-hour period to obtain a snapshot of services offered. The results showed:

•1,117 victims were served in one day.

• 546 domestic-violence victims found refuge in emergency shelters or transitional housing provided by local programs.

• 571 adults and children received non-residential assistance and services including counseling, legal advocacy and children’s support groups.

• 377 hotline calls were answered. • 85 percent of programs reported higher demand for services.

• 60 requests for services went unmet.

Programs were unable to provide services for many reasons:

• 50 percent reported not having enough funding.

• 30 percent reported not having enough staff.

Defeating domestic violence has gotten more difficult in Louisiana due to budget cuts. This spring, the state Department of Child and Family Services cut $1.4 million from its budget for domestic-violence services. This was on top of $1 million the Bobby Jindal administration cut in its December 2012 mid-year budget adjustments.

This means emergency shelters across the state will have lost more than 38 percent of their state funding in six months. This is significant in a state that leads the nation in domestic homicides.

Earlier cuts forced programs to lay off staff and tap into rainy-day reserves. These more recent cuts have forced programs to reduce and eliminate services “if they can survive at all,” Beth Meeks, LCADV executive director, said.

DCFS statistics show Louisiana shelters provided 91,000 nights of emergency shelter in the last year and took more than 38,000 crisis calls. The programs documented more than 1,800 unmet needs during that period due to low staff and full shelters.

In December, the Jindal administration said it was moving away from a shelter model and would encourage the use of hotel rooms for domestic-violence victims. LCADV called this move a “critical misstep” in a state repeatedly leading the nation in the murder of women.

With its record on domestic violence Louisiana once again finds itself at the top of a bad list. What are we doing about it? Cutting the budget. Surely we can do better.

Foster Campbell of Elm Grove is the North Louisiana representative on the Public Service Commission. He served in the Louisiana Senate from 1976 to 2002. He can be reached at 676-7464 or foster.campbell@la.gov.