BILL NUMBER: SB 60 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 18, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wright
( Coauthors: Senators
Cannella, Wolk, and Wyland )
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Ammiano, Bloom, Garcia, and
Yamada )
JANUARY 7, 2013
An act to amend Section 13951 Sections
13955 and 13957 of the Government Code, relating to
the Victims of Crime Act crime victims , and
making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 60, as amended, Wright. Victims of Crime Act: elderly
adults. Crime victims: human trafficking: elder and
dependent adult abuse.
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.
This bill would include financial abuse of an elderly
victims of human trafficking and victims of specified
forms of elder or dependent adult abuse within the
definition of crimes that are eligible for compensation under these
provisions , as specified, and provide reimbursement
for financial counseling, as specified, for victims of elder or
dependent adult abuse. Th e bill would delete inoperative
provisions that authorized reimbursement of child care expenses from
the Restitution Fund until January 1, 2010. The bill would also
provide legislative findings and declarations regarding
financial crimes against elderly or dependent adults.
By expanding the application of provisions authorizing
certain uses of authorization for the use
of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated
funds 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. The Legislature finds and declares:
(a) California has the highest number of older adults compared to
any other state in the nation, with 4.2 million individuals over 65
years of age counted in the 2010 census.
(b) Elderly and dependent adults are seen as easy targets by
financial predators who take advantage of their victims' loneliness,
isolation, and vulnerability. This population often falls victim to
scams such as foreign lotteries, the sale of costly and ineffective
annuities, identity theft, reverse mortgage scams, and fraudulent
home repairs.
(c) A 1998 study reported in the Journal of The American Medical
Association (Lachs et al, 1998) found that an elder victimized by
financial abuse has a decreased projected lifespan when compared to
elders who have not suffered that exploitation.
(d) State Department of Social Services reports that as many as
1,600 reports of elder and dependent adult financial abuse are under
investigation in a given month by the Adult Protective Services
Division statewide.
(e) The California Victims of Crime Program does not serve this
population even though federal law allows Victims of Crime Act funds
to be used to assist victims of financial crimes. Federal guidelines
identify elders and dependent adults as being underserved in this
area.
(f) Many states already provide assistance to victims of financial
crimes, including Colorado, Florida, Idaho, New Jersey, New York,
Oklahoma, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.
SEC. 2. 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, including
financial abuse of an elderly or dependent adult, 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 and
Rehabilitation, the Division of Juvenile Facilities, Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, 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) "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) "Victim center" means a victim and witness assistance center
that receives funds pursuant to Section 13835.2 of the Penal Code.
SEC. 2. Section 13955 of the Government
Code is amended to read:
13955. Except as provided in Section 13956, a person shall be
eligible for compensation when all of the following requirements are
met:
(a) The person for whom compensation is being sought is any of the
following:
(1) A victim.
(2) A derivative victim.
(3) (A) A person who is entitled to reimbursement for funeral,
burial, or crime scene cleanup expenses pursuant to paragraph (9) of
subdivision (a) of Section 13957.
(B) This paragraph applies without respect to any felon status of
the victim.
(b) Either of the following conditions is met:
(1) The crime occurred within this state, whether or not the
victim is a resident of the state. This paragraph shall apply only
during those time periods during which the board determines that
federal funds are available to the state for the compensation of
victims of crime.
(2) Whether or not the crime occurred within the State of
California, the victim was any of the following:
(A) A resident of the state.
(B) A member of the military stationed in California.
(C) A family member living with a member of the military stationed
in this state.
(c) If compensation is being sought for a derivative victim, the
derivative victim is a resident of this state, or resident of another
state, who is any of the following:
(1) At the time of the crime was the parent, grandparent, sibling,
spouse, child, or grandchild of the victim.
(2) At the time of the crime was living in the household of the
victim.
(3) At the time of the crime was a person who had previously lived
in the household of the victim for a period of not less than two
years in a relationship substantially similar to a relationship
listed in paragraph (1).
(4) Is another family member of the victim, including, but not
limited to, the victim's fiancé or fiancée, and who witnessed the
crime.
(5) Is the primary caretaker of a minor victim, but was not the
primary caretaker at the time of the crime.
(d) The application is timely pursuant to Section 13953.
(e) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the injury or death
was a direct result of a crime.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no act involving the operation
of a motor vehicle, aircraft, or water vehicle that results in injury
or death constitutes a crime for the purposes of this chapter,
except when the injury or death from such an act was any of the
following:
(A) Intentionally inflicted through the use of a motor vehicle,
aircraft, or water vehicle.
(B) Caused by a driver who fails to stop at the scene of an
accident in violation of Section 20001 of the Vehicle Code.
(C) Caused by a person who is under the influence of any alcoholic
beverage or drug.
(D) Caused by a driver of a motor vehicle in the immediate act of
fleeing the scene of a crime in which he or she knowingly and
willingly participated.
(E) Caused by a person who commits vehicular manslaughter in
violation of subdivision (b) of Section 191.5, subdivision (c) of
Section 192, or Section 192.5 of the Penal Code.
(F) Caused by any party where a peace officer is operating a motor
vehicle in an effort to apprehend a suspect, and the suspect is
evading, fleeing, or otherwise attempting to elude the peace officer.
(f) As a direct result of the crime, the victim or derivative
victim sustained one or more of the following:
(1) Physical injury. The board may presume a child who has been
the witness of a crime of domestic violence has sustained physical
injury. A child who resides in a home where a crime or crimes of
domestic violence have occurred may be presumed by the board to have
sustained physical injury, regardless of whether the child has
witnessed the crime.
(2) Emotional injury and a threat of physical injury.
(3) Emotional injury, where the crime was a violation of any of
the following provisions:
(A) Section 236.1, 261, 262, 271, 273a, 273d, 285, 286,
288, 288a, 288.5, or 289, or subdivision (b) or (c) of Section
311.4, of the Penal Code.
(B) Section 270 of the Penal Code, where the emotional injury was
a result of conduct other than a failure to pay child support, and
criminal charges were filed.
(C) Section 261.5 of the Penal Code, and criminal charges were
filed.
(D) Section 278 or 278.5 of the Penal Code, where the deprivation
of custody as described in those sections has endured for 30 calendar
days or more. For purposes of this paragraph, the child, and not the
nonoffending parent or other caretaker, shall be deemed the victim.
(E) Subdivisions (d) and (e) of Section 368 of the Penal Code.
(g) The injury or death has resulted or may result in pecuniary
loss within the scope of compensation pursuant to Sections 13957 to
13957.7, inclusive.
SEC. 3. Section 13957 of the Government
Code 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, 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.
(11) Reimburse the licensed child care expenses necessarily
incurred by a victim or derivative victim as a direct result of a
crime that resulted in physical injury or death, if the following
conditions are met:
(A) The injured or deceased victim was a primary caregiver for the
victim's dependent children.
(B) The total reimbursement for all child care expenses does not
exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000). The board shall have the
ability to set a lower reimbursement amount if necessary to protect
the solvency of the Restitution Fund.
(C) The periods of time for which child care expenses may be
reimbursed do not exceed a total of 180 days. The time periods need
not be continuous.
(D) The child care expenses are consistent with the usual and
customary rates charged by the child care provider for other children
in the provider's care. If the provider only cares for the victim's
children, the reimbursement rate shall not exceed two hundred dollars
($200) per week for one child or four hundred dollars ($400) per
week for two or more children subject to the limit in subparagraph
(E).
(E) No victim or derivative victim may receive reimbursement for
child care expenses in addition to reimbursement subject to paragraph
(4).
(F) This paragraph is a pilot program and shall be operative only
until January 1, 2010.
(11) The board may reimburse the cost of financial counseling for
a victim of a violation of subdivision (d) or (e) of Section 368 of
the Penal Code as follows:
(A) The cost of financial counseling in an amount not to exceed
two thousand dollars ($2,000).
(B) A victim who receives both mental health counseling and
financial counseling under this section may be reimbursed in an
amount not to exceed a combined total of ten thousand dollars
($10,000) with a maximum of two thousand dollars ($2,000) apportioned
for financial counseling.
(C) Reimbursable financial counseling expenses shall be provided
by a certified financial counselor or adviser providing services that
may include, but are not limited to, analysis of a victim's
financial situation, including income-producing capacity and
crime-related financial obligations, assistance with restructuring
budget and debt, assistance in accessing insurance, public
assistance, and other benefits, and assistance in completing the
financial aspects of victim impact statements.
(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.