May 15, 2018, Introduced by Rep. Lucido and referred to the Committee on Law and Justice.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 223, entitled
"An act to create an agency concerned with crime victim services;
to prescribe its powers and duties; to provide compensation to
certain victims of crimes; to provide for the promulgation of
rules; and to provide for penalties,"
by amending the title and sections 1, 4, 10, and 11 (MCL 18.351,
18.354, 18.360, and 18.361), the title and section 1 as amended by
1996 PA 519, sections 4 and 10 as amended by 2008 PA 390, and
section 11 as amended by 2010 PA 282, and by adding section 5b.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
TITLE
An act to create an agency concerned with crime victim
services; to prescribe its powers and duties; to provide
compensation to certain victims of crimes and other entities; to
provide for the promulgation of rules; and to provide for
penalties.
Sec. 1. As used in this act:
(a) "Claimant" means a victim or intervenor who is injured, or
any other person eligible for an award under section 4(1) or 5(1),
who files a claim under this act.
(b) "Commission" means the crime victim services commission.
(c) "Crime" means an act that is 1 of the following:
(i) A crime under the laws of this state or the United States
that causes an injury within this state.
(ii) An act committed in another state that if committed in
this state would constitute a crime under the laws of this state or
the United States, that causes an injury within this state or that
causes an injury to a resident of this state within a state that
does not have a victim compensation program eligible for funding
from the victims of crime act of 1984, chapter XIV of title II of
the
comprehensive crime control act of 1984, Public Law 98-473. ,
98
Stat. 2170.
(iii) An act of international terrorism as defined in section
2331
of title 18 of the United States code, 18 U.S.C. USC 2331,
committed outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States
that causes an injury to a resident of this state.
(d) "Financial injury" means the payment of towing fees or
storage fees to recover an automobile.
(e)
(d) "Intervenor" means a person who goes to
the aid of one
who has become a victim of a crime and who suffers personal
physical injury.
(f) (e)
"Out-of-pocket loss"
means the unreimbursed and
unreimbursable expenses or indebtedness reasonably incurred for
medical care, psychological counseling, replacement services, any
nonmedical remedial treatment rendered in accordance with a
recognized religious method of healing, or other services necessary
as a result of the injury upon which a claim is based.
(g) (f)
"Personal physical
injury" means actual bodily harm
and includes pregnancy.
(h) (g)
"Replacement services"
means homemaking tasks, child
care, transportation, and other services previously performed by
the victim that, because of the victim's injury, must temporarily
or permanently be performed by a person other than the victim.
(i) (h)
"Support" means actual
monetary payments made by a
victim or intervenor to or for a person principally dependent on
the victim or intervenor.
(j) (i)
"Victim" means a person
who suffers a personal
physical injury as a direct result of a crime or a person who
suffers a financial injury as a result of a crime involving
automobile theft.
Sec. 4. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), the
following persons are eligible for awards:
(a) A victim or an intervenor of a crime.
(b) A surviving spouse, parent, grandparent, child, sibling,
or grandchild of a victim of a crime who died as a direct result of
the crime.
(c) A surviving person related to the victim by blood or
affinity, a guardian, personal representative, or member of the
same household as the victim.
(d) A health care provider seeking payment under section 5a.
(e) An insurer seeking payment under section 5b.
(2) A person is not eligible to receive an award if the person
is either of the following:
(a) Criminally responsible for the crime.
(b) An accomplice to the crime.
(3) An award shall not be made on a claim unless the claimant
has incurred a minimum out-of-pocket loss of $200.00 or has lost at
least 2 continuous weeks' earnings or support, but the commission
may waive the limitations of this subsection in the case of a
claimant retired by reason of age or disability. If the claimant is
a victim of criminal sexual conduct in the first, second, or third
degree, the commission may waive the limitations of this
subsection. The commission shall waive this limitation for health
care providers seeking payment under section 5a, a victim seeking
payment for a financial injury, or an insurer seeking payment under
section 5b.
Sec. 5b. An insurer is eligible to be paid for the actual cost
of towing fees and storage fees paid for a victim to recover his or
her stolen automobile.
Sec.
10. An award shall must not be made unless the
investigation of the claim verifies the following facts:
(a) A crime was committed.
(b) The crime directly resulted in personal physical injury or
financial injury to, or death of, the victim.
(c) Police records show that the crime was reported promptly
to the proper authorities. An award shall not be made if the police
records show that the report was made more than 48 hours after the
occurrence of the crime unless any of the following circumstances
apply:
(i) The crime was criminal sexual conduct committed against a
victim who was less than 18 years of age at the time of the
occurrence and the crime was reported before the victim attained 19
years of age.
(ii) The commission, for good cause shown, finds the delay was
justified.
(iii) The commission is making a payment under section 5a.
(d) That the crime did not occur while the victim was confined
in a federal, state, or local correctional facility.
Sec. 11. (1) Except for a claim for payment of a financial
injury,
or under section sections 5a or 5b,
an award made under
this
act shall must be an amount not more than an out-of-pocket
loss, including indebtedness reasonably incurred for medical or
other services necessary as a result of the injury upon which the
claim is based, together with loss of earnings or support resulting
from
the injury. The aggregate award under this act shall must not
exceed $25,000.00 per claimant.
(2) Unless reduced under this act, an award made for loss of
earnings
or support shall must be in an amount equal to the actual
loss
sustained. An award shall must
not exceed $350.00 for each
week of lost earnings or support.
(3) An award made for funeral expenses, including burial
expenses,
shall must not exceed $5,000.00 for each victim. An award
under
this subsection shall must
not exceed an additional $500.00
for each of the following services:
(a) Grief counseling for the victim's spouse, children,
parents, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren.
(b) Crime scene cleanup services after crime scene cleanup is
permitted by the investigating law enforcement agency, if the crime
scene is located at the residence of the victim or of a person
eligible for an award under section 4(1)(b).
(4)
An award for psychological counseling shall must not
exceed 35 hourly sessions per victim or intervenor. The award may
include not more than 8 family sessions that include any of the
victim's or intervenor's spouse, children, parents, or siblings who
are not criminally responsible for or an accomplice to the crime.
The
maximum hourly reimbursement rate shall must not exceed $80.00
per hourly session for a therapist or counselor licensed or
registered to practice in this state, except that the maximum
hourly reimbursement rate shall not exceed $125.00 per hourly
session for a psychologist or physician licensed to practice in
this state.
(5)
An award shall must be reduced by the amount of 1 or more
of the following payments received or to be received as a result of
the injury:
(a) From or on behalf of the person who committed the crime.
(b) From insurance, but not including disability or death
benefits paid or to be paid to a peace officer or a corrections
officer on account of injuries sustained in the course of
employment.
(c) From public funds, but not including disability or death
benefits paid or to be paid to a peace officer or a corrections
officer on account of injuries sustained in the course of
employment.
(d) From an emergency award under section 9.
(6) In making a determination on a claim filed by a person
listed in section 4(1)(a), (b), or (c), the commission shall
determine whether the victim's misconduct contributed to his or her
injury and shall reduce the amount of the award or reject the claim
altogether, in accordance with the determination. The commission
may disregard for this purpose the victim's responsibility for his
or her own injury if the record shows that the injury was
attributable to the victim's efforts to prevent a crime or an
attempted crime from occurring in his or her presence or to
apprehend a person who had committed a crime in his or her
presence. As used in this subsection, "misconduct" includes but is
not limited to provocation of or participation in a crime
contemporaneous with or immediately preceding the injury.
(7) Except for a claim for payment of a financial injury, or
under
section sections 5a or
5b, if the commission finds that the
claimant will not suffer serious financial hardship as a result of
the loss of earnings or support and the out-of-pocket expenses
incurred as a result of the injury if he or she is not granted
financial assistance, the commission shall deny the award. In
determining the serious financial hardship, the commission shall
consider all of the financial resources of the claimant.
(8) If the commission determines that the payment of an award
will cause substantial unjust enrichment and economic benefit to a
person criminally responsible for the crime, the commission shall
deny the payment.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.