BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 556 Page 1 Date of Hearing: July 8, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair SB 556 (De León) - As Amended May 4, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy | Public Safety |Vote:| 7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill defines "application processing time" for the approval or denial of a victim's compensation claim by the California Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP), and requires the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) to annually SB 556 Page 2 post on its Internet Web site its current average time of processing applications, the number of applications approved and denied, and the number of incomplete applications received. FISCAL EFFECT: Minor absorbable cost to the board. COMMENTS: 1)Background. The CalVCP provides compensation for victims of violent crimes. It reimburses eligible victims for many crime-related expenses, such as medical treatment, mental health services, funeral expenses, home security, and relocation services. Funding for the board comes from restitution fines and penalty assessments paid by criminal offenders, as well as federal matching funds. 2)Purpose. According to the author, "Through the California Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP), California has been helping victims by covering the cost of bills and expenses resulting from certain violent crimes. Many times, these expenses include medical treatment, mental health services, and lost income. A person seeking assistance must first submit an application to the program to determine eligibility. However, for reasons such as leaving a box unchecked on whether the victim intends to file a civil suit or not signing the form, some applications get held up in the process for extended lengths of time. For these and other minor deficiencies, many eligible victims are stuck with paying bills out of pocket or otherwise unable to receive treatment SB 556 Page 3 or services." "To curb delays, the Legislature required that CalVCP approve or deny applications within an average of 90 days and that the program report to the Legislature whenever the 90-day-average standard was not being met. CalVCP's current method of calculating application processing time, however, starts only when a completed application is received, leaving the time an application is first received, but not fully filled out, outside of the official processing time. This method is not a true reflection of how long it takes the program to process applications and may be masking issues of lengthy processing times that hinder crime victims in their efforts towards rehabilitation and moving on with their lives. "SB 556 will help ensure that crime victims receive the financial assistance they are owed in a timely manner by clarifying the start and end times that CalVCP uses in processing applications to determine eligibility and requiring this data be made available on the program's website." 3)Related Legislation: a) AB 1140 (Bonta), pending a hearing in Senate Public Safety, revises various rules governing the CalVCP. b) SB 519 (Hancock), pending a hearing in Assembly Public Safety, makes various changes to the CalVCP, including but not limited to expanding eligibility for compensation and revising processing standards. SB 556 Page 4 Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081