1     
CRIME VICTIM REPARATIONS AMENDMENTS

2     
2022 GENERAL SESSION

3     
STATE OF UTAH

4     
Chief Sponsor: Ken Ivory

5     
Senate Sponsor: Jani Iwamoto

6     

7     LONG TITLE
8     General Description:
9          This bill amends provisions related to reparations for crime victims.
10     Highlighted Provisions:
11          This bill:
12          ▸     amends and enacts definitions;
13          ▸     amends the requirements for a victim to be eligible for reparations; and
14          ▸     makes technical and conforming changes.
15     Money Appropriated in this Bill:
16          None
17     Other Special Clauses:
18          None
19     Utah Code Sections Affected:
20     AMENDS:
21          63M-7-502, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2021, Chapter 260
22          63M-7-509, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2020, Chapter 149
23     

24     Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
25          Section 1. Section 63M-7-502 is amended to read:
26          63M-7-502. Definitions.
27      As used in this part:
28          (1) "Accomplice" means an individual who has engaged in criminal conduct as
29     described in Section 76-2-202.
30          (2) "Advocacy services provider" means the same as that term is defined in Section
31     77-38-403.
32          [(2)] (3) "Board" means the Crime Victim Reparations and Assistance Board created
33     under Section 63M-7-504.
34          [(3)] (4) "Bodily injury" means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical
35     condition.
36          [(4)] (5) "Claimant" means any of the following claiming reparations under this part:
37          (a) a victim;
38          (b) a dependent of a deceased victim; or
39          (c) an individual or representative who files a reparations claim on behalf of a victim.
40          [(5)] (6) "Child" means an unemancipated individual who is under 18 years old.
41          [(6)] (7) "Collateral source" means any source of benefits or advantages for economic
42     loss otherwise reparable under this part that the victim or claimant has received, or that is
43     readily available to the victim from:
44          (a) the offender;
45          (b) the insurance of the offender or the victim;
46          (c) the United States government or any of its agencies, a state or any of its political
47     subdivisions, or an instrumentality of two or more states, except in the case on nonobligatory
48     state-funded programs;
49          (d) social security, Medicare, and Medicaid;
50          (e) state-required temporary nonoccupational income replacement insurance or
51     disability income insurance;
52          (f) workers' compensation;
53          (g) wage continuation programs of any employer;
54          (h) proceeds of a contract of insurance payable to the victim for the loss the victim
55     sustained because of the criminally injurious conduct;
56          (i) a contract providing prepaid hospital and other health care services or benefits for
57     disability; or
58          (j) veteran's benefits, including veteran's hospitalization benefits.
59          (8) "Criminal justice system victim advocate" means the same as that term is defined in
60     Section 77-38-403.
61          [(7)] (9) (a) "Criminally injurious conduct" other than acts of war declared or not
62     declared means conduct that:
63          (i) is or would be subject to prosecution in this state under Section 76-1-201;
64          (ii) occurs or is attempted;
65          (iii) causes, or poses a substantial threat of causing, bodily injury or death;
66          (iv) is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or death if the individual engaging in the
67     conduct possessed the capacity to commit the conduct; and
68          (v) does not arise out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle,
69     aircraft, or water craft, unless the conduct is:
70          (A) intended to cause bodily injury or death[, or is conduct which is or would be];
71          (B) punishable under Title 76, Chapter 5, Offenses Against the Person[, or as any
72     offense]; or
73          (C) chargeable as an offense for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
74          [(b) "Criminally injurious conduct" includes an act of terrorism, as defined in 18
75     U.S.C. Sec. 2331 committed outside of the United States against a resident of this state.
76     "Terrorism" does not include an "act of war" as defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2331.]
77          [(c)] (b) "Criminally injurious conduct" includes a felony violation of Section 76-7-101
78     and other conduct leading to the psychological injury of an individual resulting from living in a
79     setting that involves a bigamous relationship.
80          [(8)] (10) (a) "Dependent" means a natural person to whom the victim is wholly or
81     partially legally responsible for care or support.
82          (b) "Dependent" includes a child of the victim born after the victim's death.
83          [(9)] (11) "Dependent's economic loss" means loss after the victim's death of
84     contributions of things of economic value to the victim's dependent, not including services the
85     dependent would have received from the victim if the victim had not suffered the fatal injury,
86     less expenses of the dependent avoided by reason of victim's death.
87          [(10)] (12) "Dependent's replacement services loss" means loss reasonably and
88     necessarily incurred by the dependent after the victim's death in obtaining services in lieu of
89     those the decedent would have performed for the victim's benefit if the victim had not suffered
90     the fatal injury, less expenses of the dependent avoided by reason of the victim's death and not
91     subtracted in calculating the dependent's economic loss.
92          [(11)] (13) "Director" means the director of the office.
93          [(12)] (14) "Disposition" means the sentencing or determination of penalty or
94     punishment to be imposed upon an individual:
95          (a) convicted of a crime;
96          (b) found delinquent; or
97          (c) against whom a finding of sufficient facts for conviction or finding of delinquency
98     is made.
99          [(13)] (15) (a) "Economic loss" means economic detriment consisting only of
100     allowable expense, work loss, replacement services loss, and if injury causes death, dependent's
101     economic loss and dependent's replacement service loss.
102          (b) "Economic loss" includes economic detriment even if caused by pain and suffering
103     or physical impairment.
104          (c) "Economic loss" does not include noneconomic detriment.
105          [(14)] (16) "Elderly victim" means an individual who is 60 years old or older and who
106     is a victim.
107          [(15)] (17) "Fraudulent claim" means a filed reparations based on material
108     misrepresentation of fact and intended to deceive the reparations staff for the purpose of
109     obtaining reparation funds for which the claimant is not eligible.
110          [(16)] (18) "Fund" means the Crime Victim Reparations Fund created in Section
111     63M-7-526.
112          (19) (a) "Interpersonal violence" means an act involving violence, physical harm, or a
113     threat of violence or physical harm, that is committed by an individual who is or has been in a
114     domestic, dating, sexual, or intimate relationship with the victim.
115          (b) "Interpersonal violence" includes any attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation of an act
116     described in Subsection (19)(a).
117          [(17)] (20) "Law enforcement officer" means the same as that term is defined in
118     Section 53-13-103.
119          [(18)] (21) (a) "Medical examination" means a physical examination necessary to
120     document criminally injurious conduct.
121          (b) "Medical examination" does not include mental health evaluations for the
122     prosecution and investigation of a crime.
123          [(19)] (22) "Mental health counseling" means outpatient and inpatient counseling
124     necessitated as a result of criminally injurious conduct, is subject to rules made by the board in
125     accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
126          [(20)] (23) "Misconduct" means conduct by the victim that was attributable to the
127     injury or death of the victim as provided by rules made by the board in accordance with Title
128     63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
129          [(21)] (24) "Noneconomic detriment" means pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical
130     impairment, and other nonpecuniary damage, except as provided in this part.
131          (25) "Nongovernment organization victim advocate" means the same as that term is
132     defined in Section 77-38-403.
133          [(22)] (26) "Pecuniary loss" does not include loss attributable to pain and suffering
134     except as otherwise provided in this part.
135          [(23)] (27) "Offender" means an individual who has violated Title 76, Utah Criminal
136     Code, through criminally injurious conduct regardless of whether the individual is arrested,
137     prosecuted, or convicted.
138          [(24)] (28) "Offense" means a violation of Title 76, Utah Criminal Code.
139          [(25)] (29) "Office" means the director, the reparations and assistance officers, and any
140     other staff employed for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this part.
141          [(26)] (30) "Perpetrator" means the individual who actually participated in the
142     criminally injurious conduct.
143          [(27)] (31) "Reparations award" means money or other benefits provided to a claimant
144     or to another on behalf of a claimant after the day on which a reparations claim is approved by
145     the office.
146          [(28)] (32) "Reparations claim" means a claimant's request or application made to the
147     office for a reparations award.
148          [(29)] (33) (a) "Reparations officer" means an individual employed by the office to
149     investigate claims of victims and award reparations under this part.
150          (b) "Reparations officer" includes the director when the director is acting as a
151     reparations officer.
152          [(30)] (34) "Replacement service loss" means expenses reasonably and necessarily
153     incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the injured individual
154     would have performed, not for income but the benefit of the injured individual or the injured
155     individual's dependents if the injured individual had not been injured.
156          [(31)] (35) (a) "Representative" means the victim, immediate family member, legal
157     guardian, attorney, conservator, executor, or an heir of an individual.
158          (b) "Representative" does not include a service provider or collateral source.
159          [(32)] (36) "Restitution" means the same as that term is defined in Section 77-38b-102.
160          [(33)] (37) "Secondary victim" means an individual who is traumatically affected by
161     the criminally injurious conduct subject to rules made by the board in accordance with Title
162     63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
163          [(34)] (38) "Service provider" means an individual or agency who provides a service to
164     a victim for a monetary fee, except attorneys as provided in Section 63M-7-524.
165          [(35)] (39) "Serious bodily injury" means the same as that term is defined in Section
166     76-1-601.
167          (40) "Sexual assault" means any criminal conduct described in Title 76, Chapter 5, Part
168     4, Sexual Offenses.
169          (41) "Strangulation" means any act involving the use of unlawful force or violence
170     that:
171          (a) impedes breathing or the circulation of blood; and
172          (b) is likely to produce a loss of consciousness by:
173          (i) applying pressure to the neck or throat of an individual; or
174          (ii) obstructing the nose, mouth, or airway of an individual.
175          [(36)] (42) "Substantial bodily injury" means the same as that term is defined in
176     Section 76-1-601.
177          [(37)] (43) (a) "Victim" means an individual who suffers bodily or psychological injury
178     or death as a direct result of:
179          (i) criminally injurious conduct; or
180          (ii) the production of pornography in violation of Section 76-5b-201 if the individual is
181     a minor.
182          (b) "Victim" does not include an individual who participated in or observed the judicial
183     proceedings against an offender unless otherwise provided by statute or rule made in
184     accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
185          [(c) "Victim" includes a resident of this state who is injured or killed by an act of
186     terrorism, as defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2331, committed outside of the United States.]
187          [(38)] (44) "Work loss" means loss of income from work the injured victim would
188     have performed if the injured victim had not been injured and expenses reasonably incurred by
189     the injured victim in obtaining services in lieu of those the injured victim would have
190     performed for income, reduced by any income from substitute work the injured victim was
191     capable of performing but unreasonably failed to undertake.
192          Section 2. Section 63M-7-509 is amended to read:
193          63M-7-509. Grounds for eligibility.
194          (1) A victim is eligible for a reparations award under this part if:
195          (a) the claimant is:
196          (i) a victim of criminally injurious conduct;
197          (ii) a dependent of a deceased victim of criminally injurious conduct; or
198          (iii) a representative acting on behalf of one of the above;
199          (b) (i) the criminally injurious conduct occurred in Utah; or
200          (ii) the victim is a Utah resident who suffers injury or death as a result of criminally
201     injurious conduct inflicted in a state, territory, or country that does not provide a crime victims'
202     compensation program;
203          (c) the application is made in writing in a form that conforms substantially to that
204     prescribed by the board;
205          (d) the criminally injurious conduct is reported to a law enforcement officer, in the law
206     enforcement officer's capacity as a law enforcement officer, or another federal or state
207     investigative agency;
208          (e) the claimant or victim cooperates with the appropriate law enforcement agencies
209     and prosecuting attorneys in efforts to apprehend or convict the perpetrator of the alleged
210     offense; and
211          (f) the criminally injurious conduct occurred after December 31, 1986.
212          (2) A reparations award may be made to a victim regardless of whether any individual
213     is arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of the criminally injurious conduct giving rise to a
214     reparations claim.
215          (3) (a) Notwithstanding the requirements of Subsections (1)(d) and (e), a victim of
216     sexual assault is not required to report the sexual assault to a law enforcement officer or
217     another federal or state investigative agency or cooperate with the appropriate law enforcement
218     agencies and prosecuting attorneys to be eligible for a reparations award under this section if:
219          (i) the victim seeks assistance from an advocacy services provider, a criminal justice
220     system victim advocate, or a nongovernment organization victim advocate; and
221          (ii) the advocacy services provider, the criminal justice system victim advocate, or the
222     nongovernment organization victim advocate completes a questionnaire, provided by the
223     office, regarding the sexual assault.
224          (b) Notwithstanding the requirement of Subsection (1)(e), a victim who has suffered
225     strangulation in the course of interpersonal violence is not required to cooperate with the
226     appropriate law enforcement agencies and prosecuting attorneys to be eligible for a reparations
227     award under this section if the victim:
228          (i) reports the strangulation to a law enforcement officer or another federal or state
229     investigative agency after the strangulation occurs; or
230          (ii) seeks medical care for the strangulation immediately after the strangulation occurs.