Lawmakers on Thursday authorized stopgap funding to support two programs fighting violence against women, after federal money for the initiatives was paused because of the state’s delay in releasing an audit that was in turn caused by the state’s slowness in issuing key financial reports.

The Interim Finance Committee (IFC), a group of lawmakers that approves payments to state agencies while the Legislature is out of session, unanimously signed off on spending more than $1.1 million and directed Attorney General Aaron Ford’s office to seek additional loans if federal money remains unavailable. 

“You'll probably see us back here in the spring,” said Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Ford’s chief of staff.

Benitez-Thompson and other representatives of the attorney general’s office stressed that they expect funding to be released as soon as the audit is complete, which is expected in mid-2026. 

The funding concerned two programs authorized by the 1994 Violence Against Women Act that aim at supporting women affected by rape and other forms of gendered violence. 

The Services, Training, Officers and Prosecutors Program helps train law enforcement and legal officials on methods of identifying and prosecuting violence against women. The Sexual Assault Services Program supports rape crisis centers and relief organizations for victims of human trafficking and domestic violence. 

Both programs are overseen by Nevada’s attorney general, and both saw their funding frozen in July by the Trump administration after the state failed to submit 2023 and 2024 fiscal audits.

Those annual audits examine the state’s finances, including its federal grants, but cannot be released until after the state releases its annual financial report. Those reports have been plagued by delays for years, a problem state Controller Andy Matthews told The Indy was because of the pandemic, staffing shortages and “the lack of necessary urgency within state government to address this problem before it got as severe as it did.”

He said his office had made progress on staffing to resolve those issues and that the 2024 financial report would be released earlier in the year, likely in late spring of 2026. The independent audit of the financial report will arrive roughly a month later, enabling the release of the funds for the violence prevention programs.

The federal funding freeze came as a surprise to the attorney general’s office, said Jennifer Hoban, the office’s chief financial manager. 

To compensate for the immediate revenue loss, the Governor’s Finance Office transferred salary adjustment funds, traditionally reserved for employee raises, to the state’s grant management budget in July. 

At Thursday’s meeting, the attorney general’s office asked lawmakers for money to repay those salary adjustment funds, a situation that representatives for the attorney general and the governor described as unorthodox and the result of being blindsided by the Trump administration. 

Multiple lawmakers questioned the legal permissibility of the money transfer. 

“Let me get this right: The governor decided that he would violate the law to help the attorney general’s office,” said Sen. Dina Neal (D-North Las Vegas). “I mean, that’s bipartisanship to the best level.”

But financial representatives from both offices said they had no other option.

Benitez-Thompson also said that the Trump administration’s move “kind of targeted one specific agency” and noted that the administration has permanently cut funds to other groups fighting gendered violence. 

When the Trump administration paused Nevada’s funding in July, Trump had already demanded that the Violence Against Women Act grants align with his policy views by not being used for “gender ideology” or DEI initiatives. His pressure on those programs inspired a coalition of 17 sexual assault prevention groups to bring a lawsuit in Rhode Island’s federal court. Nevada was not one of the states to join the lawsuit, which is currently awaiting a decision.

“It is extremely important that our partners in the community get the funding they need to keep these vital services running for Nevadans,” John Sadler, a Ford spokesperson, told The Indy.

Ford representatives told the legislative committee they were confident the funding pause was temporary. The attorney general’s office would push for “these dollars to be released the minute that single state audit gets submitted,” said Benitez-Thompson. The 2023 audit was released in September.

The $1.11 million released Thursday is nearly enough to cover the full 2026 budget for the two programs, which Hoban put at approximately $1.28 million.

But Hoban did say that the funding delays could endanger future federal money for the violence prevention programs if they are unable to complete the work they traditionally would do. 

“It’s very pertinent that we get this audit report done,” she said.