Via Shutterstock

Via Shutterstock

Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) is pushing legislation that would create a 24-hour hotline to field calls from victims of domestic violence. Wells’ bill, which is co-sponsored by the rest of the D.C. Council, aims to handle a volume of calls that advocates say is too great for either of the city’s two domestic violence hotlines to handle, The Washington Examiner reports.

The resulting hotline would not be managed by the District, though. The bill calls for My Sister’s Place, which currently runs one of the two hotlines, or another group to operate a round-the-clock operation. However, the Examiner reports, Wells’ legislation is very preliminary and doesn’t address how a 24-hour hotline would be paid for:

Officials hope that a new line, managed by My Sister’s Place or another nonprofit group, could mount a publicity campaign and offer a range of services to domestic violence victims. The legislation mandates live assistance to callers around the clock and calls for public outreach about the line.

Wells’ legislation does not directly allocate any additional funds to create the new hotline; instead, it calls on the city to study the cost of the legislation and look for possible funding sources.

Many cities have dedicated hotlines for domestic violence victims to call on, but D.C. does not. Some victims call 311 for resources, but the head of the D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence says operators often transfer callers to the wrong agency.