SB 299: Victim compensation: use of force by a law enforcement officer.

Session Year: 2021-2022
House: Senate

Version:

(1)Existing law provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law defines various terms for purposes of these provisions, including crime, which includes any public offense wherever it may take place that would constitute a misdemeanor or felony. provisions.

This bill would revise the definition of crime to include any public offense described above regardless of whether any person is arrested for, charged with, or convicted of the commission of the crime. The bill would also include in the definition of crime an incident occurring on or after January 1, 2022, in which an individual sustains serious bodily injury, as specified, or death as a result of a law enforcement officers use of force, regardless of whether the law enforcement officer is arrested for, charged with, or convicted of committing a crime. The bill would define law enforcement officer for these purposes. By expanding the types of crime for which compensation can be paid from a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would define law enforcement officer consistently with specified provisions. The bill would define victim services provider to mean an individual, whether paid or serving as a volunteer, who provides services to victims under the supervision of either an agency or organization that has a documented record of providing services to victims, or a law enforcement or prosecution agency.

(2)Existing law requires every law enforcement and social service agency in the state to provide to the board or to a contracted victim center reports involving the crime or incident giving rise to a claim, for the specific purpose of determining the eligibility of a claim, except as provided.This bill would prohibit a determination made by the board as to the eligibility of a victim or applicant for compensation from being used as evidence that, among other things, any person committed a crime. In the case of a claim based on a victims serious bodily injury or death that resulted from a law enforcement officers use of force, as described above, the bill would further prohibit the eligibility determination from being used as evidence in any action, disciplinary investigation, or proceeding relating to the employment or duties of the law enforcement officer, as provided.(3)

(2)Existing law requires that a person be ineligible for compensation under specified conditions, including, among other things, if the board determines that denial of the claim for compensation is appropriate because of the nature of the victims involvement in the events leading to the crime or the involvement of the person whose injury or death gives rise to the application. Existing law requires the board to deny an application if it finds that the victim failed to cooperate reasonably with a law enforcement agency in the apprehension and conviction of a criminal committing the crime.

This bill, in the case of a claim based on a victims serious bodily injury or death that resulted from a law enforcement officers use of force, as described above, would prohibit the board from denying an application based on certain circumstances, including the victims or other applicants involvement in the crime, except as specified, or the victims failure to cooperate, or the contents of a police report, or the lack thereof. The bill would, absent a police report, authorize the board to consider other evidence that a crime occurred, as specified. cooperate. The bill would require the board, solely for the purposes of eligibility for compensation, to accept as sufficient evidence forms of documentation, as described, that describe or demonstrate a person suffered serious bodily injury or death as a result of a law enforcement officers use of force. The bill, in the case of a claim based on a victims death as a result of a crime, would prohibit the board from denying an application based on the deceased victims involvement in the crime or the victims or derivative victims failure to cooperate, except as provided. By expanding the types of crime for which compensation can be paid from a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

(4)Existing law authorizes the filing of a petition for a writ of mandate, as provided, in seeking judicial review of a final decision by the board.This bill would prohibit a writ of mandate from being used as evidence that, among other things, any person committed a crime. In the case of a claim based on a victims serious bodily injury or death that resulted from a law enforcement officers use of force, as described above, the bill would further prohibit the writ from being used as evidence in any action, disciplinary investigation, or proceeding relating to the employment or duties of the law enforcement officer, as provided.(5)

(3)Existing law requires that the California Victim Compensation Board be subrogated to the rights of the recipient to the extent of any compensation granted by the board.

This bill would specify that the above-described subrogation of the board applies to compensation by the board for a claim based on serious bodily injury or death that resulted from a law enforcement officers use of force, as specified.

(6)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13956 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1171 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1171 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

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