Bill Text: IA SF276 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act concerning payments under the crime victim compensation program. (Formerly SF 208.)

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-10 - Subcommittee: Kinney, Dawson, and Zaun. S.J. 83. [SF276 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-SF276-Introduced.html

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Senate File 276 - Introduced




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

                                 (SUCCESSOR TO SF 208)

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act concerning payments under the crime victim compensation
  2    program.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 915.80, Code 2017, is amended by adding
  1  2 the following new subsection:
  1  3    NEW SUBSECTION.  7A.  "Survivor of a deceased victim" means a
  1  4 survivor who is a spouse, former spouse, child, foster child,
  1  5 parent, legal guardian, foster parent, stepparent, sibling,
  1  6 or foster sibling of a victim, or a person cohabiting with,
  1  7 or otherwise related by blood or affinity to, a victim, if
  1  8 the victim dies as a result of a crime, a good=faith effort
  1  9 attempting to prevent a crime, or a good=faith effort to
  1 10 apprehend a person suspected of committing a crime.
  1 11    Sec. 2.  Section 915.86, subsections 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14,
  1 12 15, and 16, Code 2017, are amended to read as follows:
  1 13    4.  Loss of income from work that the victim, the victim's
  1 14 parent or caretaker, or the survivor of a homicide deceased
  1 15  victim as described in subsection 10 would have performed and
  1 16 for which that person would have received remuneration, where
  1 17 the loss of income is a direct result of cooperation with
  1 18 the investigation and prosecution of the crime or attendance
  1 19 at criminal justice proceedings including the trial and
  1 20 sentencing in the case, or due to the planning of or attendance
  1 21 at a funeral, memorial, or burial service, not to exceed one
  1 22 thousand dollars per person.
  1 23    8.  In the event of a victim's death, reasonable charges
  1 24 incurred for counseling the victim's spouse, children, parents,
  1 25 siblings, or persons cohabiting with or related by blood
  1 26 or affinity to the a survivor of a deceased victim if the
  1 27 counseling services are provided by a psychologist licensed
  1 28 under chapter 154B, a victim counselor as defined in section
  1 29 915.20A, subsection 1, or an individual holding at least a
  1 30 master's degree in social work or counseling and guidance, and
  1 31 reasonable charges incurred by such persons for medical care
  1 32 counseling provided by a psychiatrist licensed under chapter
  1 33 148. The allowable charges under this subsection shall not
  1 34 exceed five thousand dollars per person.
  1 35    9.  In the event of a homicide victim's death, reasonable
  2  1 charges incurred for health care for the victim's spouse;
  2  2 child, foster child, stepchild, son=in=law, or daughter=in=law;
  2  3 parent, foster parent, or stepparent; sibling, foster sibling,
  2  4 stepsibling, brother=in=law, or sister=in=law; grandparent;
  2  5 grandchild; aunt, uncle, or first cousin; legal ward; or person
  2  6 cohabiting with the a survivor of a deceased victim, not to
  2  7 exceed three thousand dollars per survivor.
  2  8    10.  In the event of a homicide victim's death, loss of
  2  9 income from work that, but for the death of the victim, would
  2 10 have been earned by the victim's spouse; child, foster child,
  2 11 stepchild, son=in=law, or daughter=in=law; parent, foster
  2 12 parent, or stepparent; sibling, foster sibling, stepsibling,
  2 13 brother=in=law, or sister=in=law; grandparent; grandchild;
  2 14 aunt, uncle, or first cousin; legal ward; or person cohabiting
  2 15 with the a survivor of a deceased victim, not to exceed six
  2 16 thousand dollars.
  2 17    11.  Reasonable expenses incurred by the victim, secondary
  2 18 victim, or survivor of a deceased victim for cleaning the scene
  2 19 of a crime, if the scene is a residence, not to exceed one
  2 20 thousand dollars per crime scene.
  2 21    13.  Reasonable dependent care expenses incurred by the
  2 22 victim, the victim's parent or caretaker, or the survivor of a
  2 23 homicide deceased victim as described in subsection 10 for the
  2 24 care of dependents while attending criminal justice proceedings
  2 25 or, medical or counseling services, or funeral, burial, or
  2 26 memorial services, not to exceed one thousand dollars per
  2 27 person.
  2 28    14.  Reasonable crime=related expenses incurred by a victim,
  2 29 the victim's parent or caretaker, or the a survivor of a
  2 30 homicide deceased victim as described in subsection 10 to
  2 31 replace inadequate or damaged or install new locks, windows,
  2 32 and other residential security items at the victim's residence
  2 33 or at the residential scene of a crime, not to exceed five
  2 34 hundred dollars per residence.
  2 35    15.  Reasonable expenses incurred by the victim, a secondary
  3  1 victim, the parent or guardian of a victim, or the a survivor
  3  2 of a homicide deceased victim as described in subsection 10 for
  3  3 transportation to medical, or counseling services, funeral, or
  3  4  criminal justice proceedings, or a funeral, memorial, or burial
  3  5 service, not to exceed one thousand dollars per person.
  3  6    16.  Reasonable charges incurred by a victim, a secondary
  3  7 victim, the a survivor of a homicide deceased victim as
  3  8 described in subsection 9, or by a victim service program on
  3  9 behalf of a victim, for emergency relocation expenses, not to
  3 10 exceed one thousand dollars per person per lifetime.
  3 11    Sec. 3.  Section 915.86, Code 2017, is amended by adding the
  3 12 following new subsection:
  3 13    NEW SUBSECTION.  18.  a.  A victim, secondary victim,
  3 14 or survivor of a deceased victim may be awarded additional
  3 15 compensation in an amount not to exceed a total of five
  3 16 thousand dollars per person for charges, expenses, or loss of
  3 17 income incurred that would otherwise be compensable under this
  3 18 section but for the eligibility requirements and compensation
  3 19 limits provided for at the time of initial application
  3 20 for compensation under this section under the following
  3 21 circumstances:
  3 22    (1)  The charges, expenses, or loss of income incurred were
  3 23 not compensable under this section at the time of initial
  3 24 application for compensation under this section.
  3 25    (2)  The victim, secondary victim, or survivor of a deceased
  3 26 victim demonstrates that a denial of additional compensation
  3 27 under this subsection would constitute an undue hardship.
  3 28    (3)  The victim, secondary victim, or survivor of a deceased
  3 29 victim incurs additional charges, expenses, or loss of income
  3 30 that would otherwise be compensable under this section but
  3 31 for the compensation limits provided for the applicable
  3 32 compensation category upon occurrence of a new event related
  3 33 to the event authorizing compensation under this section.  For
  3 34 purposes of this subparagraph, "new event" includes additional
  3 35 criminal justice proceedings due to a mistrial, retrial, or
  4  1 separate or additional trials resulting from the existence of
  4  2 multiple offenders; a new appellate court decision relating to
  4  3 the event authorizing compensation under this section; a change
  4  4 of venue of a trial; a change in offender custody status; the
  4  5 death of the offender; or the exoneration of the offender.
  4  6    b.  Additional compensation otherwise authorized by this
  4  7 subsection shall not be awarded for an application for
  4  8 compensation under subsection 7, 16, or 17.
  4  9                           EXPLANATION
  4 10 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  4 11 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  4 12    This bill concerns compensation payable under the victim
  4 13 compensation program.
  4 14    Code section 915.80 is amended to add a definition for a
  4 15 survivor of a deceased victim and provides that a survivor
  4 16 includes a spouse, former spouse, child, foster child, parent,
  4 17 legal guardian, foster parent, stepparent, sibling, foster
  4 18 sibling, or person cohabiting with, or related by blood or
  4 19 affinity, of a deceased victim.
  4 20    Code section 915.86, concerning computation of compensation
  4 21 under the victim compensation program, is amended.
  4 22    The bill amends provisions concerning reimbursement of loss
  4 23 of income from work to allow reimbursement for attending or
  4 24 planning the funeral of the deceased victim.  In addition, the
  4 25 bill provides that the compensation limit under this category
  4 26 is $1,000 per person.
  4 27    The bill amends provisions concerning reimbursement for
  4 28 cleaning the scene of the crime to strike the limitation that
  4 29 the cleaning be limited to a crime scene that is a residence,
  4 30 and provides that the compensation limit of $1,000 applies per
  4 31 crime scene.
  4 32    The provisions concerning dependent care expenses are
  4 33 amended to allow compensation for attending funeral, burial, or
  4 34 memorial services.
  4 35    The bill amends provisions concerning reimbursement for
  5  1 certain security items to allow reimbursement to replace
  5  2 inadequate or damaged or install new locks, windows, and
  5  3 residential security items instead of just to replace these
  5  4 items.
  5  5    The provisions concerning reimbursement for certain
  5  6 transportation costs is amended to allow compensation for
  5  7 transportation to a funeral, memorial, or burial service.
  5  8    The bill adds a new provision to provide additional
  5  9 compensation of up to a total of $5,000 for qualifying
  5 10 compensable expenses under the Code section if the expenses
  5 11 were not eligible for compensation at the time the initial
  5 12 application for benefits was made; the victim, secondary
  5 13 victim, or survivor of a deceased victim demonstrates that a
  5 14 denial of additional compensation would constitute an undue
  5 15 hardship; or additional compensable qualifying expenses are
  5 16 incurred following a new event.  The bill defines "new event"
  5 17 to include additional criminal justice proceedings, a new
  5 18 appellate court decision relating to the event, a change of
  5 19 venue of a trial, a change in offender custody status, the
  5 20 death of the offender, or the exoneration of the offender.  The
  5 21 new provision further provides that expenses related to loss
  5 22 of support or charges incurred by a victim service program for
  5 23 emergency relocation expenses or housing assistance are not
  5 24 eligible for additional compensation.
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