Senate Bill No. 107

CHAPTER 148

An act to amend Section 13823.95 of the Penal Code, relating to sexual assault.

[Approved by Governor August 26, 2013. Filed with Secretary of State August 26, 2013.]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 107, Corbett. Sexual assault: victim medical evidentiary examination.

Existing law provides that the costs incurred by a qualified health care professional, hospital, or other emergency medical facility for the examination of the victim of a sexual assault for the purposes of gathering evidence for possible prosecution shall be charged to the local law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the alleged offense occurred. Existing law authorizes the local law enforcement agency to seek reimbursement from the California Emergency Management Agency or its successor, the Office of Emergency Services, for the costs of those examinations, as specified, in those cases in which the victim does not participate in the criminal justice system and authorizes, until January 1, 2014, the California Emergency Management Agency or the Office of Emergency Services to utilize certain federal grant moneys to provide that reimbursement.

This bill would extend indefinitely the authorization to utilize those federal grant moneys to provide that reimbursement.

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

SECTION 1.  

Section 13823.95 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

13823.95.  

(a) No costs incurred by a qualified health care professional, hospital, or other emergency medical facility for the medical evidentiary examination portion of the examination of the victim of a sexual assault, as described in the protocol developed pursuant to Section 13823.5, when the examination is performed pursuant to Sections 13823.5 and 13823.7, shall be charged directly or indirectly to the victim of the assault.

(b) Any victim of a sexual assault who seeks a medical evidentiary examination, as that term is used in Section 13823.93, shall be provided with a medical evidentiary examination. No victim of a sexual assault shall be required to participate or to agree to participate in the criminal justice system, either prior to the examination or at any other time.

(c) The cost of a medical evidentiary examination performed by a qualified health care professional, hospital, or other emergency medical facility for a victim of a sexual assault shall be treated as a local cost and charged to the local law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the alleged offense was committed; provided, however, that the local law enforcement agency may seek reimbursement, as provided in subdivision (d), for the cost of conducting the medical evidentiary examination portion of a medical examination of a sexual assault victim who does not participate in the criminal justice system.

(d) The amount that may be charged by a qualified health care professional, hospital, or other emergency medical facility to perform the medical evidentiary examination portion of a medical examination of a victim of a sexual assault shall not exceed three hundred dollars ($300). The Office of Emergency Services shall use the discretionary funds from federal grants awarded to the agency pursuant to the federal Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 and the federal Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 through the federal Office of Violence Against Women, specifically, the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program, to cover the cost of the medical evidentiary examination portion of a medical examination of a sexual assault victim.



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