Bill Text: WV HB2818 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Increasing the allowable expenses to be paid to victims by the Crime Victim Compensation Fund
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-08 - Effective Date [HB2818 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2011-HB2818-Introduced.html
H. B. 2818
(By Delegates Manchin, Caputo, Fleischauer,
Fragale, Guthrie, Poore, Skaff,
Doyle and Stowers)
[Introduced January 24, 2011; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §14-2A-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended to read as follows:
§14-2A-3. Definitions.
As used in this article, the term:
(a) "Claimant" means any of the following persons, whether residents or nonresidents of this state, who claim an award of compensation under this article:
(1) A victim, except the term "victim" does not include a nonresident of this state where the criminally injurious act did not occur in this state;
(2) A dependent, spouse or minor child of a deceased victim or,in the event that the if the deceased victim is a minor, the
parents, legal guardians and siblings of the victim;
(3) A third person, other than a collateral source, who legally assumes or voluntarily pays the obligations of a victim orof a dependent of a victim which a victim's dependent when the
obligations are incurred as a result of the criminally injurious
conduct that is the subject of the claim;
(4) A person who is authorized to act on behalf of a victim, dependent or a third person who is not a collateral source including, but not limited to, assignees, persons holding power of attorney orother persons others who hold authority to make or
submit claims in place of or on behalf of a victim, a dependent or
third person who is not a collateral source and in the event that
if the victim, dependent or third person who is not a collateral
source is a minor or other legally incompetent person, the their
duly qualified fiduciary; of the minor;
(5) A person who is a secondary victim in need of mental health counseling due to the person's exposure to the crime committedAn award to a secondary victim whose award may not exceed
$1,000; and
(6) A person who owns real property damaged by the operation of a methamphetamine laboratory without the knowledge or consent of the owner of the real property.
(b) "Collateral source" means a source of benefits or advantages for economic loss otherwise compensable that the victim or claimant has received or that is readily available to him or her from any of the following sources:
(1) The offender, includingany restitution received from the
offender pursuant to an order by a court of law sentencing the
offender or placing him or her on probation following a conviction
or guilty plea in a criminal case arising from the criminally
injurious act for which a claim for compensation is made;
(2) The government of the United States orany of its
agencies, a state or any of its political subdivisions or an
instrumentality of two or more states;
(3) Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid;
(4) State-required, temporary, nonoccupational disability insurance or other disability insurance;
(5) Workers' compensation;
(6) Wage continuation programs ofany an employer;
(7) Proceeds of a contract of insurance payable to the victim or claimant for loss that was sustained because of the criminally injurious conduct;
(8) A contract providing prepaid hospital and other health care services or benefits for disability; and
(9) That portion of the proceeds of all contracts of insurance payable to the claimant on account of the death of the victim which exceeds $25,000.
(c) "Criminally injurious conduct" means conduct that occurs or is attempted in this state, or in any state not having a victim compensation program, whichby its nature poses a substantial
threat of personal injury or death and is punishable by fine, or
imprisonment or death or would be so punishable but for the fact
that the person engaging in the conduct lacked capacity a finding
by a court of competent jurisdiction that the person committing the
crime lacked capacity. Criminally injurious conduct also includes
criminally injurious conduct committed outside of the United States
against a resident of this state. Criminally injurious conduct
does not include conduct arising out of the ownership, maintenance
or use of a motor vehicle except when unless the person engaging in
the conduct intended to cause personal injury or death or when the
person engaging in the conduct committed negligent homicide,
driving under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances or
drugs, reckless driving or when the person leaves leaving the scene
of the accident or reckless driving.
(d) "Dependent" means an individual who received over half of his or her support from the victim. For the purpose ofdetermining
whether an individual received over half of his or her support from
the victim, making this determination there shall be taken into
account the amount of support received from the victim as compared to the entire amount of support which the individual received from
all sources including support which the individual himself or
herself supplied. self-support. The term "support" includes, but
is not limited to, food, shelter, clothing, medical and dental care
and education. The term "dependent" includes a child of the victim
born after his or her death.
(e) "Economic loss" means economic detriment consisting only of allowable expense, work loss and replacement services loss. If criminally injurious conduct causes death, economic loss includes a dependent's economic loss and a dependent's replacement services loss. Noneconomic detriment is not economic loss, however, economic loss may be caused by pain and suffering or physical impairment. For purposes of this article, the term "economic loss" includes a lost scholarship as defined in this section.
(f) (1) "Allowable expense" means reasonable charges incurred
or to be incurred for reasonably needed products, services and
accommodations, including those for medical care, mental health
counseling, prosthetic devices, eye glasses, dentures,
rehabilitation and other remedial treatment and care.
(f) "Allowable expense" includes the following:
(1) Reasonable charges incurred or to be incurred for reasonably needed products, services and accommodations including those for medical care, mental health counseling, prosthetic devices, eye glasses, dentures, rehabilitation and other remedial treatment and care but does not include that portion of a charge for a room in a hospital, clinic, convalescent home, nursing home or other institution engaged in providing nursing care and related services which is in excess of a reasonable and customary charge for semiprivate accommodations unless accommodations other than semiprivate accommodations are medically required;
(2)Allowable expense includes A total charge not in excess of
$7,000 for expenses in any way related to funerals, cremations and
burials; It does not include that portion of a charge for a room
in a hospital, clinic, convalescent home, nursing home or any other
institution engaged in providing nursing care and related services
in excess of a reasonable and customary charge for semiprivate
accommodations unless accommodations other than semiprivate
accommodations are medically required.
(3) Allowable expense also includes:
(A) (3) A charge, not to exceed five thousand dollars
$10,000, for cleanup of real property damaged by a methamphetamine
laboratory or a charge not to exceed $1,000 for any other crime
scene cleanup;
(B) (4) Victim relocation costs not to exceed $2,000;
(C) (5) Reasonable travel expenses not to exceed $1,000 for
a claimant to attend court proceedings that are conducted for the
prosecution of the offender;
(D) (6) Reasonable travel expenses for a claimant to return a person who is a minor or incapacitated adult who has been
unlawfully removed from this state to another state or country if
the removal constitutes a crime under the laws of this state
Reasonable travel expenses to another state for that purpose may
not exceed $2,000 and reasonable travel expenses for that purpose
to another county may not exceed $3,000; and which may not exceed
$2,000 for expenses to another state or $3,000 to another country;
and
(E) (7) Reasonable travel expenses for the transportation of
a victim to and from a medical facility.
(g) "Work loss" means loss of income from work that the injured person would have performed if he or she had not been injured and expenses reasonably incurred or to be incurred by him or her to obtain services in lieu of those he or she would have performed for income. "Work loss" is reduced byany income from
substitute work actually performed or to be performed by him or her
or by income he or she would have earned in available appropriate
substitute work that he or she was capable of performing but
unreasonably failed to undertake. "Work loss" also includes loss
of income from work by the parent or legal guardian of a minor
victim who must miss work to take care of the minor victim.
(h) "Replacement services loss" means expenses reasonably incurred or to be incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the injured person would have performednot for income but for the benefit of himself or herself or his or
her family if he or she had not been injured. "Replacement
services loss" does not include services an injured person would
have performed to generate income.
(i) "Dependent's economic loss" means loss after a victim's death of contributions or things of economic value to his or her dependentsnot including but does not include services they would
have received from the victim if he or she had not suffered the
fatal injury. less expenses of the dependents avoided by reason of
the victim's death.
This amount is reduced by expenses avoided by
the dependent due to the victim's death.
(j) "Dependent's replacement service loss" means loss reasonably incurred or to be incurred by dependents after a victim's death in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the victim would have performed for their benefit if he or she had not suffered the fatal injury.less expenses of the
dependents avoided by reason of the victim's death and not
This
amount is reduced by expenses avoided due to the victim's death but
which are not already subtracted in calculating a dependent's
economic loss.
(k) "Victim" means the following:
(1) A person who suffers personal injury or death as a result of any one of the following:
(1) (A) Criminally injurious conduct;
(2) (B) The good faith effort of the person to prevent
criminally injurious conduct; or
(3) (C) The good faith effort of the person to apprehend a
person that the injured person has observed engaging in criminally
injurious conduct or who the injured person has reasonable cause to
believe has engaged in criminally injurious conduct immediately
prior to the attempted apprehension. "Victim" includes the owner
of real property damaged by the operation of a methamphetamine
laboratory.
(2) The owner of real property damaged by the operation of a
methamphetamine laboratory.
(l) "Contributory misconduct" means any conduct of the claimant or of the victim through whom the claimant claims an award that is unlawful or intentionally tortious and that, without regard to the conduct's proximity in time or space to the criminally injurious conduct, has a causal relationship to the criminally injurious conduct that is the basis of the claim andshall also
include includes the voluntary intoxication of the claimant, either
by the consumption of alcohol or the use of any controlled
substance, when the intoxication has a causal connection or
relationship to the injury sustained.
(m) "Lost scholarship" means a scholarship, academic award, stipend or other monetary scholastic assistance which had been awarded or conferred upon a victim in conjunction with a post-secondary school educational program and which the victim is unable to receive or use, in whole or in part, due to injuries received from criminally injurious conduct.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the allowable expense under the Crime Victims Award Program that may be paid for the clean-up of real property damage by a methamphetamine laboratory from $5,000 to $10,000.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
Bill Title: Increasing the allowable expenses to be paid to victims by the Crime Victim Compensation Fund
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-08 - Effective Date [HB2818 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2011-HB2818-Introduced.html
(By Delegates Manchin, Caputo, Fleischauer,
Fragale, Guthrie, Poore, Skaff,
Doyle and Stowers)
[Introduced January 24, 2011; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §14-2A-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to increasing the allowable expense under the Crime Victims Award Program that may be paid for the clean-up of real property damage by a methamphetamine laboratory.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §14-2A-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. COMPENSATION AWARDS TO VICTIMS OF CRIMES.
§14-2A-3. Definitions.
As used in this article, the term:
(a) "Claimant" means any of the following persons, whether residents or nonresidents of this state, who claim an award of compensation under this article:
(1) A victim, except the term "victim" does not include a nonresident of this state where the criminally injurious act did not occur in this state;
(2) A dependent, spouse or minor child of a deceased victim or,
(3) A third person, other than a collateral source, who legally assumes or voluntarily pays the obligations of a victim or
(4) A person who is authorized to act on behalf of a victim, dependent or a third person who is not a collateral source including, but not limited to, assignees, persons holding power of attorney or
(5) A person who is a secondary victim in need of mental health counseling due to the person's exposure to the crime committed
(6) A person who owns real property damaged by the operation of a methamphetamine laboratory without the knowledge or consent of the owner of the real property.
(b) "Collateral source" means a source of benefits or advantages for economic loss otherwise compensable that the victim or claimant has received or that is readily available to him or her from any of the following sources:
(1) The offender, including
(2) The government of the United States or
(3) Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid;
(4) State-required, temporary, nonoccupational disability insurance or other disability insurance;
(5) Workers' compensation;
(6) Wage continuation programs of
(7) Proceeds of a contract of insurance payable to the victim or claimant for loss that was sustained because of the criminally injurious conduct;
(8) A contract providing prepaid hospital and other health care services or benefits for disability; and
(9) That portion of the proceeds of all contracts of insurance payable to the claimant on account of the death of the victim which exceeds $25,000.
(c) "Criminally injurious conduct" means conduct that occurs or is attempted in this state, or in any state not having a victim compensation program, which
(d) "Dependent" means an individual who received over half of his or her support from the victim. For the purpose of
(e) "Economic loss" means economic detriment consisting only of allowable expense, work loss and replacement services loss. If criminally injurious conduct causes death, economic loss includes a dependent's economic loss and a dependent's replacement services loss. Noneconomic detriment is not economic loss, however, economic loss may be caused by pain and suffering or physical impairment. For purposes of this article, the term "economic loss" includes a lost scholarship as defined in this section.
(1) Reasonable charges incurred or to be incurred for reasonably needed products, services and accommodations including those for medical care, mental health counseling, prosthetic devices, eye glasses, dentures, rehabilitation and other remedial treatment and care but does not include that portion of a charge for a room in a hospital, clinic, convalescent home, nursing home or other institution engaged in providing nursing care and related services which is in excess of a reasonable and customary charge for semiprivate accommodations unless accommodations other than semiprivate accommodations are medically required;
(2)
(g) "Work loss" means loss of income from work that the injured person would have performed if he or she had not been injured and expenses reasonably incurred or to be incurred by him or her to obtain services in lieu of those he or she would have performed for income. "Work loss" is reduced by
(h) "Replacement services loss" means expenses reasonably incurred or to be incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the injured person would have performed
(i) "Dependent's economic loss" means loss after a victim's death of contributions or things of economic value to his or her dependents
(j) "Dependent's replacement service loss" means loss reasonably incurred or to be incurred by dependents after a victim's death in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the victim would have performed for their benefit if he or she had not suffered the fatal injury.
(k) "Victim" means the following:
(1) A person who suffers personal injury or death as a result of any one of the following:
(l) "Contributory misconduct" means any conduct of the claimant or of the victim through whom the claimant claims an award that is unlawful or intentionally tortious and that, without regard to the conduct's proximity in time or space to the criminally injurious conduct, has a causal relationship to the criminally injurious conduct that is the basis of the claim and
(m) "Lost scholarship" means a scholarship, academic award, stipend or other monetary scholastic assistance which had been awarded or conferred upon a victim in conjunction with a post-secondary school educational program and which the victim is unable to receive or use, in whole or in part, due to injuries received from criminally injurious conduct.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the allowable expense under the Crime Victims Award Program that may be paid for the clean-up of real property damage by a methamphetamine laboratory from $5,000 to $10,000.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.