SENATE BILL No. 21

 

 

January 18, 2017, Introduced by Senators WARREN, PROOS, O'BRIEN, JONES, COLBECK, KNOLLENBERG, HORN, BOOHER, SCHUITMAKER, BRANDENBURG, HANSEN, KOWALL, GREGORY and JOHNSON and referred to the Committee on Michigan Competitiveness.

 

 

     A bill to amend 1989 PA 196, entitled

 

"An act to abolish the criminal assessments commission; to

prescribe certain duties of the crime victim services commission;

to create the crime victim's rights fund; to provide for

expenditures from the fund; to provide for assessments against

criminal defendants and certain juvenile offenders; to provide for

payment of crime victim's rights services; and to prescribe the

powers and duties of certain state and local agencies and

departments,"

 

by amending section 4 (MCL 780.904), as amended by 2015 PA 9.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 4. (1) The crime victim's rights fund is created as a

 

separate fund in the state treasury. The state treasurer shall

 

credit to the fund all amounts received under this act and as

 

provided by law. The state treasurer shall invest fund money in the

 

same manner as surplus funds are invested under section 3 of 1855

 

PA 105, MCL 21.143. Earnings from the fund shall be credited to the

 

fund.

 


     (2) The fund shall be expended only as provided in this act.

 

Amounts in the fund in excess of the necessary revenue determined

 

by the commission under section 3(a) may be used for crime victim

 

compensation under 1976 PA 223, MCL 18.351 to 18.368. Any

 

additional excess revenue that has not been used for crime victim

 

compensation may be used to as follows:

 

     (a) To provide for establishment and maintenance of a

 

statewide trauma system, including staff support associated with

 

trauma and related emergency medical services program activities.

 

Not more than $3,500,000.00 shall be expended for this purpose from

 

the fund in any fiscal year. For the 2014-2015 fiscal year only,

 

not more than $4,800,000.00 shall be expended for this purpose from

 

the fund.

 

     (b) To be provided to children's advocacy centers to assist in

 

providing services to children who have experienced trauma or abuse

 

as a result of a criminal offense. Not more than $1,000,000.00

 

shall be expended for this purpose from the fund in any fiscal

 

year.

 

     (3) Beginning October 1, 2018, the amount expended for the

 

statewide trauma system from the fund shall must not exceed 50% of

 

the maximum allowable under subsection (2), unless the amount

 

expended is reasonably proportional to crime victims' utilization

 

of the statewide trauma system.

 

     (4) As used in this section, "children's advocacy center"

 

means that term as defined in section 2 of the children's advocacy

 

act, 2008 PA 544, MCL 722.1042, that allows for a law enforcement

 

agency, a prosecuting attorney, or a child protective services


investigator to observe a forensic interview with a child who has

 

experienced trauma or abuse as a result of a criminal offense. A

 

children's advocacy center may also be a place where a child who

 

has experienced trauma or abuse as a result of a criminal offense

 

and the nonoffending caregiver may receive support, crisis

 

intervention, and ongoing therapy for the trauma or abuse.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.