1     
RAPE CRISIS AND SERVICES CENTER AMENDMENTS

2     
2024 GENERAL SESSION

3     
STATE OF UTAH

4     
Chief Sponsor: Angela Romero

5     
Senate Sponsor: Todd D. Weiler

6     

7     LONG TITLE
8     General Description:
9          This bill concerns standards of care and eligibility standards for a rape crisis and
10     services center.
11     Highlighted Provisions:
12          This bill:
13          ▸     defines terms;
14          ▸     specifies rulemaking authority to the Utah Office for Victims of Crime (office) to
15     create:
16               •     standards of care for a rape crisis and services center;
17               •     eligibility standards for a rape crisis and services center to be eligible for a
18     grant, other funds, or services;
19               •     standards and procedures for the office to monitor or audit the compliance of a
20     rape crisis and services center with eligibility standards; and
21          ▸     makes technical and conforming changes.
22     Money Appropriated in this Bill:
23          None
24     Other Special Clauses:
25          None
26     Utah Code Sections Affected:
27     AMENDS:

28          63M-7-502, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2022, Chapters 148, 185 and 430
29     ENACTS:
30          63M-7-527, Utah Code Annotated 1953
31     

32     Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
33          Section 1. Section 63M-7-502 is amended to read:
34          63M-7-502. Definitions.
35          As used in this part:
36          (1) "Accomplice" means an individual who has engaged in criminal conduct as
37     described in Section 76-2-202.
38          (2) "Advocacy services provider" means the same as that term is defined in Section
39     77-38-403.
40          (3) "Board" means the Crime Victim Reparations and Assistance Board created under
41     Section 63M-7-504.
42          (4) "Bodily injury" means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical
43     condition.
44          (5) "Claimant" means any of the following claiming reparations under this part:
45          (a) a victim;
46          (b) a dependent of a deceased victim; or
47          (c) an individual or representative who files a reparations claim on behalf of a victim.
48          (6) "Child" means an unemancipated individual who is under 18 years old.
49          (7) "Collateral source" means any source of benefits or advantages for economic loss
50     otherwise reparable under this part that the victim or claimant has received, or that is readily
51     available to the victim from:
52          (a) the offender;
53          (b) the insurance of the offender or the victim;
54          (c) the United States government or any of its agencies, a state or any of its political
55     subdivisions, or an instrumentality of two or more states, except in the case on nonobligatory
56     state-funded programs;
57          (d) social security, Medicare, and Medicaid;
58          (e) state-required temporary nonoccupational income replacement insurance or

59     disability income insurance;
60          (f) workers' compensation;
61          (g) wage continuation programs of any employer;
62          (h) proceeds of a contract of insurance payable to the victim for the loss the victim
63     sustained because of the criminally injurious conduct;
64          (i) a contract providing prepaid hospital and other health care services or benefits for
65     disability; or
66          (j) veteran's benefits, including veteran's hospitalization benefits.
67          (8) "Criminal justice system victim advocate" means the same as that term is defined in
68     Section 77-38-403.
69          (9) (a) "Criminally injurious conduct" other than acts of war declared or not declared
70     means conduct that:
71          (i) is or would be subject to prosecution in this state under Section 76-1-201;
72          (ii) occurs or is attempted;
73          (iii) causes, or poses a substantial threat of causing, bodily injury or death;
74          (iv) is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or death if the individual engaging in the
75     conduct possessed the capacity to commit the conduct; and
76          (v) does not arise out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle,
77     aircraft, or water craft, unless the conduct is:
78          (A) intended to cause bodily injury or death;
79          (B) punishable under Title 76, Chapter 5, Offenses Against the Individual; or
80          (C) chargeable as an offense for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
81          (b) "Criminally injurious conduct" includes a felony violation of Section 76-7-101 and
82     other conduct leading to the psychological injury of an individual resulting from living in a
83     setting that involves a bigamous relationship.
84          (10) (a) "Dependent" means a natural person to whom the victim is wholly or partially
85     legally responsible for care or support.
86          (b) "Dependent" includes a child of the victim born after the victim's death.
87          (11) "Dependent's economic loss" means loss after the victim's death of contributions
88     of things of economic value to the victim's dependent, not including services the dependent
89     would have received from the victim if the victim had not suffered the fatal injury, less

90     expenses of the dependent avoided by reason of victim's death.
91          (12) "Dependent's replacement services loss" means loss reasonably and necessarily
92     incurred by the dependent after the victim's death in obtaining services in lieu of those the
93     decedent would have performed for the victim's benefit if the victim had not suffered the fatal
94     injury, less expenses of the dependent avoided by reason of the victim's death and not
95     subtracted in calculating the dependent's economic loss.
96          (13) "Director" means the director of the office.
97          (14) "Disposition" means the sentencing or determination of penalty or punishment to
98     be imposed upon an individual:
99          (a) convicted of a crime;
100          (b) found delinquent; or
101          (c) against whom a finding of sufficient facts for conviction or finding of delinquency
102     is made.
103          (15) (a) "Economic loss" means economic detriment consisting only of allowable
104     expense, work loss, replacement services loss, and if injury causes death, dependent's economic
105     loss and dependent's replacement service loss.
106          (b) "Economic loss" includes economic detriment even if caused by pain and suffering
107     or physical impairment.
108          (c) "Economic loss" does not include noneconomic detriment.
109          (16) "Elderly victim" means an individual who is 60 years old or older and who is a
110     victim.
111          (17) "Fraudulent claim" means a filed reparations based on material misrepresentation
112     of fact and intended to deceive the reparations staff for the purpose of obtaining reparation
113     funds for which the claimant is not eligible.
114          (18) "Fund" means the Crime Victim Reparations Fund created in Section 63M-7-526.
115          (19) (a) "Interpersonal violence" means an act involving violence, physical harm, or a
116     threat of violence or physical harm, that is committed by an individual who is or has been in a
117     domestic, dating, sexual, or intimate relationship with the victim.
118          (b) "Interpersonal violence" includes any attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation of an act
119     described in Subsection (19)(a).
120          (20) "Law enforcement officer" means the same as that term is defined in Section

121     53-13-103.
122          (21) (a) "Medical examination" means a physical examination necessary to document
123     criminally injurious conduct.
124          (b) "Medical examination" does not include mental health evaluations for the
125     prosecution and investigation of a crime.
126          (22) "Mental health counseling" means outpatient and inpatient counseling necessitated
127     as a result of criminally injurious conduct, is subject to rules made by the board in accordance
128     with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative
129     Rulemaking Act.
130          (23) "Misconduct" means conduct by the victim that was attributable to the injury or
131     death of the victim as provided by rules made by the board in accordance with Title 63G,
132     Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
133          (24) "Noneconomic detriment" means pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical
134     impairment, and other nonpecuniary damage, except as provided in this part.
135          (25) "Nongovernment organization victim advocate" means the same as that term is
136     defined in Section 77-38-403.
137          (26) "Pecuniary loss" does not include loss attributable to pain and suffering except as
138     otherwise provided in this part.
139          (27) "Offender" means an individual who has violated Title 76, Utah Criminal
140     Code, through criminally injurious conduct regardless of whether the individual is arrested,
141     prosecuted, or convicted.
142          (28) "Offense" means a violation of Title 76, Utah Criminal Code.
143          (29) "Office" means the director, the reparations and assistance officers, and any other
144     staff employed for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this part.
145          (30) "Perpetrator" means the individual who actually participated in the criminally
146     injurious conduct.
147          (31) "Rape crisis and services center" means a nonprofit entity that assists victims of
148     sexual assault and victims' families by offering sexual assault crisis intervention and counseling
149     through a sexual assault counselor.
150          [(31)] (32) "Reparations award" means money or other benefits provided to a claimant
151     or to another on behalf of a claimant after the day on which a reparations claim is approved by

152     the office.
153          [(32)] (33) "Reparations claim" means a claimant's request or application made to the
154     office for a reparations award.
155          [(33)] (34) (a) "Reparations officer" means an individual employed by the office to
156     investigate claims of victims and award reparations under this part.
157          (b) "Reparations officer" includes the director when the director is acting as a
158     reparations officer.
159          [(34)] (35) "Replacement service loss" means expenses reasonably and necessarily
160     incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services in lieu of those the injured individual
161     would have performed, not for income but the benefit of the injured individual or the injured
162     individual's dependents if the injured individual had not been injured.
163          [(35)] (36) (a) "Representative" means the victim, immediate family member, legal
164     guardian, attorney, conservator, executor, or an heir of an individual.
165          (b) "Representative" does not include a service provider or collateral source.
166          [(36)] (37) "Restitution" means the same as that term is defined in Section 77-38b-102.
167          [(37)] (38) "Secondary victim" means an individual who is traumatically affected by
168     the criminally injurious conduct subject to rules made by the board in accordance with Title
169     63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
170          [(38)] (39) "Service provider" means an individual or agency who provides a service to
171     a victim for a monetary fee, except attorneys as provided in Section 63M-7-524.
172          [(39)] (40) "Serious bodily injury" means the same as that term is defined in Section
173     76-1-101.5.
174          [(40)] (41) "Sexual assault" means any criminal conduct described in Title 76,
175     Chapter 5, Part 4, Sexual Offenses.
176          (42) "Sexual assault counselor" means an individual who:
177          (a) is employed by or volunteers at a rape crisis and services center;
178          (b) has a minimum of 40 hours of training in counseling and assisting victims of sexual
179     assault; and
180          (c) is under the supervision of the director of a rape crisis and services center or the
181     director's designee.
182          [(41)] (43) "Strangulation" means any act involving the use of unlawful force or

183     violence that:
184          (a) impedes breathing or the circulation of blood; and
185          (b) is likely to produce a loss of consciousness by:
186          (i) applying pressure to the neck or throat of an individual; or
187          (ii) obstructing the nose, mouth, or airway of an individual.
188          [(42)] (44) "Substantial bodily injury" means the same as that term is defined in
189     Section 76-1-101.5.
190          [(43)] (45) (a) "Victim" means an individual who suffers bodily or psychological injury
191     or death as a direct result of:
192          (i) criminally injurious conduct; or
193          (ii) the production of pornography in violation of Section 76-5b-201 or 76-5b-201.1 if
194     the individual is a minor.
195          (b) "Victim" does not include an individual who participated in or observed the judicial
196     proceedings against an offender unless otherwise provided by statute or rule made in
197     accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah
198     Administrative Rulemaking Act.
199          [(44)] (46) "Work loss" means loss of income from work the injured victim would
200     have performed if the injured victim had not been injured and expenses reasonably incurred by
201     the injured victim in obtaining services in lieu of those the injured victim would have
202     performed for income, reduced by any income from substitute work the injured victim was
203     capable of performing but unreasonably failed to undertake.
204          Section 2. Section 63M-7-527 is enacted to read:
205          63M-7-527. Rape crisis and services center standards, eligibility, and monitoring
206     -- Administrative rulemaking authority.
207          (1) With regard to eligibility for a grant, other funds, or services provided under this
208     part for a rape crisis and services center, the office shall create rules to:
209          (a) create standards of care for a rape crisis and services center to provide safe,
210     effective, and appropriate services for a victim of sexual assault:
211          (i) that are based on best practices; and
212          (ii) with input from the Utah Victim Services Commission's subcommitee on rape and
213     sexual assault established under Subsection 63M-7-903(5)(b);

214          (b) create and enforce eligibility standards for a rape crisis and services center that:
215          (i) incorporate the standards of care described in Subsection (1)(a); and
216          (ii) may be used to determine whether a rape crisis and services center is eligible for a
217     grant, other funds, or services under this part; and
218          (c) create standards and procedures for the office or the office's designee to monitor or
219     audit a rape crisis and services center for compliance with the eligibility standards described in
220     Subsection (1)(b).
221          (2) Rules made by the office under this section shall be made in accordance with Title
222     63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act.
223          Section 3. Effective date.
224          This bill takes effect on May 1, 2024.