Updates to the Crime Victim Compensation Act

The bill makes the following updates to the "Crime Victim Compensation Act" (act):

• Changes verbiage concerning an award of compensation to approval of compensation for consistency with how crime victim compensation programs operate;
• Revises language to be gender neutral;
• Changes the terminology for court administrator to court executive to reflect the accurate position title as changed by the state court administrator's office;
• Includes state offenses specified in the "Victim Rights Act" under the definition of compensable crime;
• Includes as property damage expenses incurred for a motor vehicle determined by law enforcement to be where a compensable crime was committed;
• Modifies the requirement to notify appropriate law enforcement officials to be eligible to receive compensation under the act by removing the 72-hour requirement. The requirement is met if the victim or applicant provides documentation that a forensic examination was conducted by a licensed or registered nurse or medical providers.
• Modifies the requirement to fully cooperate with law enforcement officials to be eligible to receive compensation under the act to requiring the applicant to have reasonably cooperated with law enforcement officials;
• Removes the requirement that an application be submitted within one year of the date of injury to the victim;
• Removes outpatient care and homemaker and home health services and adds replacement services losses, which is defined in the bill, funeral expenses, certain travel expenses, dependent care services, and certain relocation services as losses compensable under the act;
• Adds as compensable losses towing or impound fees for a motor vehicle that is determined to be where a compensable crime was committed and prosthetic or medically necessary devices were damaged or stolen as a result of a compensable crime;
• Excludes property damage expenses and motor vehicle expenses as losses compensable under the act except as otherwise provided under the act;
• Allows for emergency approvals to be made in an amount according to a judicial district's crime victim compensation board's policies instead of the $2,000 cap under existing law;
• Increases the amount that district attorneys may retain from money deposited in the judicial district's crime victim compensation fund for administrative costs from 12.5% to 22.5%;
• Levies a cost of $33 on each criminal action that results with placement in an alternative sentencing program to be credited to the crime victim compensation fund established in the judicial district where the offense occurred; and
• Removes the exception from the prohibition from a court suspending or waiving a cost or surcharge levied under the act if the court determines a defendant against a cost or surcharge levied is indigent.
  (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)