California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1629

Introduced by Assembly Member Bonta

February 10, 2014

An act to amend Sections 13951 and 13957 of the Government Code, relating to crime victims, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1629, as introduced, Bonta. Crime victims: compensation: reimbursement of violence peer counseling expenses.

Existing law provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and specified limits on the amount of compensation the board may award. Existing law authorizes the board to reimburse a crime victim or derivative victim for the amount of outpatient mental health counseling-related expenses incurred by the victim or derivative victim, including peer counseling services provided by a rape crisis center, as specified.

This bill would additionally authorize the board to reimburse a crime victim or derivative victim for the amount of outpatient violence peer counseling-related expenses incurred by the victim or derivative victim, as specified. By expanding the authorization for the use of moneys in a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 13951 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

13951.  

As used in this chapter, the following definitions shall
apply:

(a) “Board” means the California Victim Compensation and
Government Claims Board.

(b) (1) “Crime” means a crime or public offense, wherever it
may take place, that would constitute a misdemeanor or a felony
if the crime had been committed in California by a competent
adult.

(2) “Crime” includes an act of terrorism, as defined in Section
2331 of Title 18 of the United States Code, committed against a
resident of the state, whether or not the act occurs within the state.

(c) “Derivative victim” means an individual who sustains
pecuniary loss as a result of injury or death to a victim.

(d) “Law enforcement” means every district attorney, municipal
police department, sheriff’s department, district attorney’s office,
county probation department, and social services agency, the
Department of Justice, the Department of Corrections, the
Department of the Youth Authority, the Department of the
California Highway Patrol, the police department of any campus
of the University of California, California State University, or
community college, and every agency of the State of California
expressly authorized by statute to investigate or prosecute law
violators.

(e) “Pecuniary loss” means an economic loss or expense
resulting from an injury or death to a victim of crime that has not
been and will not be reimbursed from any other source.

(f) “Peer counseling” means counseling offered by a provider
of mental health counseling services who has completed a
specialized course in rape crisis counseling skills development,
participates in continuing education in rape crisis counseling skills
development, and provides rape crisis counseling within the State
of California.

begin insert

(g) “Service organization for victims of violent crime” means
a nongovernmental organization that meets both of the following
criteria:

end insert begin insert

(1) Its primary mission is to provide services to victims of violent
crime.

end insert begin insert

(2) It provides programs or services to victims of violent crime
and their families, and other programs, whether or not a similar
program exists in an agency that provides additional services.

end insert begin delete

(g)

end delete

begin insert (h) end insert  “Victim” means an individual who sustains injury or death
as a direct result of a crime as specified in subdivision (e) of
Section 13955.

begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert  “Victim center” means a victim and witness assistance center
that receives funds pursuant to Section 13835.2 of the Penal Code.

begin insert

(j) “Violence peer counseling” means counseling by a violence
peer counselor for the purpose of rendering advice or assistance
for victims of violent crime and their families.

end insert begin insert

(k) “Violence peer counselor” means a provider of formal or
informal counseling services who is employed by a service
organization for victims of violent crime, whether financially
compensated or not, and who has had at least 40 hours of
specialized training that includes, but is not limited to, applied
peace building and violence prevention strategies, practical
applications of violence prevention strategies, trauma-informed
care, post-traumatic stress disorder and vicarious trauma, victim
compensation advocacy, retaliation prevention and conflict
mediation, and case management practices.

end insert

SEC. 2.  

Section 13957 of the Government Code, as amended
by Section 2 of Chapter 147 of the Statutes of 2013, is amended
to read:

13957.  

(a) The board may grant for pecuniary loss, when the
board determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation,
as follows:

(1) Subject to the limitations set forth in Section 13957.2,
reimburse the amount of medical or medical-related expenses
incurred by the victim, including, but not limited to, eyeglasses,
hearing aids, dentures, or any prosthetic device taken, lost, or
destroyed during the commission of the crime, or the use of which
became necessary as a direct result of the crime.

(2) Subject to the limitations set forth in Section 13957.2,
reimburse the amount of outpatient psychiatric, psychological, or
other mental health counseling-related expenses incurred by the
victim or derivative victim, including peer counseling services
provided by a rape crisis center as defined by Section 13837 of
the Penal Code begin insert or violence peer counseling services provided by
a service organization for victims of violent crime end insert , and including
family psychiatric, psychological, or mental health counseling for
the successful treatment of the victim provided to family members
of the victim in the presence of the victim, whether or not the
family member relationship existed at the time of the crime, that
became necessary as a direct result of the crime, subject to the
following conditions:

(A) The following persons may be reimbursed for the expense
of their outpatient mental health counseling in an amount not to
exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000):

(i) A victim.

(ii) A derivative victim who is the surviving parent, sibling,
child, spouse, fiancé, or fiancée of a victim of a crime that directly
resulted in the death of the victim.

(iii) A derivative victim, as described in paragraphs (1) to (4),
inclusive, of subdivision (c) of Section 13955, who is the primary
caretaker of a minor victim whose claim is not denied or reduced
pursuant to Section 13956 in a total amount not to exceed ten
thousand dollars ($10,000) for not more than two derivative
victims.

(B) The following persons may be reimbursed for the expense
of their outpatient mental health counseling in an amount not to
exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000):

(i) A derivative victim not eligible for reimbursement pursuant
to subparagraph (A), provided that mental health counseling of a
derivative victim described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (c) of
Section 13955, shall be reimbursed only if that counseling is
necessary for the treatment of the victim.

(ii) A victim of a crime of unlawful sexual intercourse with a
minor committed in violation of subdivision (d) of Section 261.5
of the Penal Code. A derivative victim of a crime committed in
violation of subdivision (d) of Section 261.5 of the Penal Code
shall not be eligible for reimbursement of mental health counseling
expenses.

(iii) A minor who suffers emotional injury as a direct result of
witnessing a violent crime and who is not eligible for
reimbursement of the costs of outpatient mental health counseling
under any other provision of this chapter. To be eligible for
reimbursement under this clause, the minor must have been in
close proximity to the victim when he or she witnessed the crime.

(C) The board may reimburse a victim or derivative victim for
outpatient mental health counseling in excess of that authorized
by subparagraph (A) or (B) or for inpatient psychiatric,
psychological, or other mental health counseling if the claim is
based on dire or exceptional circumstances that require more
extensive treatment, as approved by the board.

(D) Expenses for psychiatric, psychological, or other mental
health counseling-related services may be reimbursed only if the
services were provided by either of the following individuals:

(i) A person who would have been authorized to provide those
services pursuant to former Article 1 (commencing with Section
13959) as it read on January 1, 2002.

(ii) A person who is licensed by the state to provide those
services, or who is properly supervised by a person who is so
licensed, subject to the board’s approval and subject to the
limitations and restrictions the board may impose.

(3) Reimburse the expenses of nonmedical remedial care and
treatment rendered in accordance with a religious method of healing
recognized by state law.

(4) Subject to the limitations set forth in Section 13957.5,
authorize compensation equal to the loss of income or loss of
support, or both, that a victim or derivative victim incurs as a direct
result of the victim’s or derivative victim’s injury or the victim’s
death. If the victim or derivative victim requests that the board
give priority to reimbursement of loss of income or support, the
board may not pay medical expenses, or mental health counseling
expenses, except upon the request of the victim or derivative victim
or after determining that payment of these expenses will not
decrease the funds available for payment of loss of income or
support.

(5) Authorize a cash payment to or on behalf of the victim for
job retraining or similar employment-oriented services.

(6) Reimburse the claimant for the expense of installing or
increasing residential security, not to exceed one thousand dollars
($1,000). Reimbursement shall be made either upon verification
by law enforcement that the security measures are necessary for
the personal safety of the claimant or verification by a mental
health treatment provider that the security measures are necessary
for the emotional well-being of the claimant. For purposes of this
paragraph, a claimant is the crime victim, or, if the victim is
deceased, a person who resided with the deceased at the time of
the crime. Installing or increasing residential security may include,
but need not be limited to, both of the following:

(A) Home security device or system.

(B) Replacing or increasing the number of locks.

(7) Reimburse the expense of renovating or retrofitting a
victim’s residence or a vehicle, or both, to make the residence, the
vehicle, or both, accessible or the vehicle operational by a victim
upon verification that the expense is medically necessary for a
victim who is permanently disabled as a direct result of the crime,
whether the disability is partial or total.

(8) (A) Authorize a cash payment or reimbursement not to
exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000) to a victim for expenses
incurred in relocating, if the expenses are determined by law
enforcement to be necessary for the personal safety of the victim
or by a mental health treatment provider to be necessary for the
emotional well-being of the victim.

(B) The cash payment or reimbursement made under this
paragraph shall only be awarded to one claimant per crime giving
rise to the relocation. The board may authorize more than one
relocation per crime if necessary for the personal safety or
emotional well-being of the claimant. However, the total cash
payment or reimbursement for all relocations due to the same crime
shall not exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000). For purposes of
this paragraph a claimant is the crime victim, or, if the victim is
deceased, a person who resided with the deceased at the time of
the crime.

(C) The board may, under compelling circumstances, award a
second cash payment or reimbursement to a victim for another
crime if both of the following conditions are met:

(i) The crime occurs more than three years from the date of the
crime giving rise to the initial relocation cash payment or
reimbursement.

(ii) The crime does not involve the same offender.

(D) When a relocation payment or reimbursement is provided
to a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence and the identity
of the offender is known to the victim, the victim shall agree not
to inform the offender of the location of the victim’s new residence
and not to allow the offender on the premises at any time, or shall
agree to seek a restraining order against the offender.

(E) Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) and (B), the board may
increase the cash payment or reimbursement for expenses incurred
in relocating to an amount greater than two thousand dollars
($2,000), if the board finds this amount is appropriate due to the
unusual, dire, or exceptional circumstances of a particular claim.

(9) When a victim dies as a result of a crime, the board may
reimburse any individual who voluntarily, and without anticipation
of personal gain, pays or assumes the obligation to pay any of the
following expenses:

(A) The medical expenses incurred as a direct result of the crime
in an amount not to exceed the rates or limitations established by
the board.

(B) The funeral and burial expenses incurred as a direct result
of the crime, not to exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars
($7,500).

(10) When the crime occurs in a residence, the board may
reimburse any individual who voluntarily, and without anticipation
of personal gain, pays or assumes the obligation to pay the
reasonable costs to clean the scene of the crime in an amount not
to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000). Services reimbursed
pursuant to this subdivision shall be performed by persons
registered with the State Department of Public Health as trauma
scene waste practitioners in accordance with Chapter 9.5
(commencing with Section 118321) of Part 14 of Division 104 of
the Health and Safety Code.

(b) The total award to or on behalf of each victim or derivative
victim may not exceed thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000),
except that this amount may be increased to seventy thousand
dollars ($70,000) if federal funds for that increase are available.