BILL NUMBER: AB 1629	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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.

   (g) "Service organization for victims of violent crime" means a
nongovernmental organization that meets both of the following
criteria:  
   (1) Its primary mission is to provide services to victims of
violent crime.  
   (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. 

   (g) 
    (h)  "Victim" means an individual who sustains injury or
death as a direct result of a crime as specified in subdivision (e)
of Section 13955. 
   (h) 
    (i)  "Victim center" means a victim and witness
assistance center that receives funds pursuant to Section 13835.2 of
the Penal Code. 
   (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.  
   (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. 
  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  or violence peer counseling services provided by a
service organization for victims of violent crime  , 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.