Four members of Congress, including Peoria Congressman Aaron Schock (R-Il) Thursday introduced legislation ( HR 4116) Family Violence and Prevention Services Act to provide funding to keep the lights on and the doors open at local domestic violence shelters across the country. FVPSA was last reauthorized in 2003 . According to a news release from Schock, the shelters funded by FVPSA provide emergency shelter, crisis counseling and support for victims and their children and they do it on a shoestring budget. In addition to increasing the authorization level for local shelters and programs to 250 million dollars ( from 175 million dollars) this legislation creates new grants for organizations to target traditionally underserved communities. The bill also improves the National Domestic Violence Hotline so that instant messaging and text messaging will be available to reach a larger portion of the population, especially youth victims of dating violence.