The casual eavesdropper in halls of power might get the idea that government is all about money. While money literally defines the bottom line on who gets paid, who gets taxed, and who survives to campaign another day, it all plays out not in spreadsheets or line-item accounts but in the lives of people far removed from power. And in this time of diminishing resources and burgeoning need, the news is not often encouraging for ordinary people. But Connecticut’s lawmakers rolled out new legislation last week that will make a significant and positive difference in the lives of some of the state’s most powerless and vulnerable citizens: victims of domestic violence.

Connecticut started the fiscal year July 1 with a newly revised $19 billion budget that includes $1.75 million that will allow all of the state’s 18 domestic violence centers to stay open around the clock, seven days a week. (Previously, just two had been open 24 hours a day.) The new laws also improve enforcement of protective orders; enhance the flow of information to appropriate state agencies dealing with domestic violence cases; extend protections to the workplace for domestic violence victims; expand the number of domestic violence court dockets; and create a pilot program employing GPS monitoring of the highest risk domestic violence offenders.

For those who have a hard time thinking about public policy outside the context of money, we should note that the annual financial costs of domestic violence for health care and lost productivity alone amount to more than $5.8 billion nationally. You can add to that the costs that accumulate in the law enforcement and the criminal and civil legal systems. In Connecticut, about 30 percent of criminal court dockets are filled with domestic violence cases. The staggering financial costs, however, pale in comparison to the human costs.

Nationwide, there are three to four million domestic violence victims annually. In Connecticut each year, at least 50,000 adults and children are victimized by this most private of crimes. The number of arrests are far fewer (20,000 in 2008), meaning the soul-crushing intimidation, humiliation, and physical pain of domestic violence still moves freely across the threshold of homes in every town and city of the state on a daily basis. Sadly, the problem moves just as freely from one generation to another. A recent state Department of Health survey showed that nearly one in five Connecticut high school seniors reported being hit, slapped, or physically injured by a partner in the previous 12 months.

This new legislation takes effect at a critical time. Growing joblessness and shrinking incomes are putting stresses on every family. Most people find a way to cope, but in families where abuse exists, hard times quickly heat domestic tensions from a simmer to a boil. At a time when governments too frequently appear powerless to address some of our most intractable problems, it is heartening to see that in Connecticut some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens still have some standing in the halls of power.