BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 556
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Date of Hearing: July 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 556
(De León) - As Amended May 4, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill defines "application processing time" for the approval
or denial of a victim's compensation claim by the California
Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP), and requires the Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) to annually
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post on its Internet Web site its current average time of
processing applications, the number of applications approved and
denied, and the number of incomplete applications received.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor absorbable cost to the board.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. The CalVCP provides compensation for victims of
violent crimes. It reimburses eligible victims for many
crime-related expenses, such as medical treatment, mental
health services, funeral expenses, home security, and
relocation services. Funding for the board comes from
restitution fines and penalty assessments paid by criminal
offenders, as well as federal matching funds.
2)Purpose. According to the author, "Through the California
Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP), California has been
helping victims by covering the cost of bills and expenses
resulting from certain violent crimes. Many times, these
expenses include medical treatment, mental health services,
and lost income. A person seeking assistance must first
submit an application to the program to determine eligibility.
However, for reasons such as leaving a box unchecked on
whether the victim intends to file a civil suit or not signing
the form, some applications get held up in the process for
extended lengths of time. For these and other minor
deficiencies, many eligible victims are stuck with paying
bills out of pocket or otherwise unable to receive treatment
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or services."
"To curb delays, the Legislature required that CalVCP approve or
deny applications within an average of 90 days and that the
program report to the Legislature whenever the 90-day-average
standard was not being met. CalVCP's current method of
calculating application processing time, however, starts only
when a completed application is received, leaving the time an
application is first received, but not fully filled out,
outside of the official processing time. This method is not a
true reflection of how long it takes the program to process
applications and may be masking issues of lengthy processing
times that hinder crime victims in their efforts towards
rehabilitation and moving on with their lives.
"SB 556 will help ensure that crime victims receive the
financial assistance they are owed in a timely manner by
clarifying the start and end times that CalVCP uses in
processing applications to determine eligibility and requiring
this data be made available on the program's website."
3)Related Legislation:
a) AB 1140 (Bonta), pending a hearing in Senate Public
Safety, revises various rules governing the CalVCP.
b) SB 519 (Hancock), pending a hearing in Assembly Public
Safety, makes various changes to the CalVCP, including but
not limited to expanding eligibility for compensation and
revising processing standards.
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Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081