Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1639 Crime victims: the California Victim Compensation Board.(2017-2018)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Healing for All Act of 2017.
SEC. 2.
 The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:
(a) It is the intention of the California Victim Compensation Board to assist victims of qualified crime in obtaining compensation for the pecuniary losses they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts.
(b) Victims should be encouraged to access victim compensation services regardless of their own, or their family’s, alleged gang membership, affiliation, or association, or their or their family’s documentation or immigration status.
(c) Providing resources to victims decreases trauma and suffering and the resulting physical and mental health costs. Providing treatment for trauma caused by crime may interrupt the cycle of victimization.

SEC. 3.

 Section 13962 of the Government Code is amended to read:

13962.
 (a) The board shall publicize through the board, law enforcement agencies, victim centers, hospitals, medical, mental health or other counseling service providers, and other public or private agencies, the existence of the program established pursuant to this chapter, including the procedures for obtaining compensation under the program.
(b) It shall be the duty of every local law enforcement agency to inform crime victims of the provisions of this chapter, of the existence of victim centers, and in counties where no victim center exists, to provide application forms to victims who desire to seek compensation pursuant to this chapter. The board shall provide application forms and all other documents that local law enforcement agencies and victim centers may require to comply with this section. The board, in cooperation with victim centers, shall set standards to be followed by local law enforcement agencies for this purpose and may require them to file with the board a description of the procedures adopted by each agency to comply with the standards. The board shall conduct outreach to local law enforcement agencies about their duties under this section.
(c) Every local law enforcement agency shall annually provide to the board contact information for the Victims of Crime Liaison Officer designated pursuant to Section 649.36 of Title 2 of the California Code of Regulations.
(d) The board shall annually make available to the Victims of Crime Liaison Officer at every local law enforcement agency one hour of training on victim compensation in California and materials to educate the officers and staff in their law enforcement agencies and publicize the program within their jurisdictions.
(e) The board’s outreach pursuant to subdivision (a) and training pursuant to subdivision (d) shall affirm that neither access to information about victim compensation, nor an application for compensation, shall be denied on the basis of the victim’s or derivative victim’s membership in, association with, or affiliation with, a gang, or on the basis of the victim’s or derivative victim’s designation as a suspected gang member, associate, or affiliate in a shared gang database, as defined in Section 186.34 of the Penal Code.
(f) The board’s outreach pursuant to subdivision (a) and training pursuant to subdivision (d) shall affirm that neither access to information about victim compensation, nor an application for compensation, shall be denied on the basis of the victim’s or derivative victim’s documentation or immigration status.
(g) (1) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2024, only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if an appropriation is made to backfill the Restitution Fund to support the actions in this section. If those conditions are met, this section is repealed January 1, 2025.
(2) The amendments made by the act adding this subdivision shall become operative on January 1, 2023.
SEC. 4.
 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.