Restitution Services For Victims

Current law requires a prosecuting attorney to submit information to the court to determine the specific amount of restitution upon order of conviction or within 91 days. The bill extends the deadline for a prosecuting attorney to submit information to the court to determine the specific amount of restitution upon order of conviction or within 182 days for adult cases. Upon submission of the prosecuting attorney's information, the court shall determine the specific amount of restitution within 63 days. For cases involving juveniles, the deadline for a prosecuting attorney to submit information remains 91 days.The bill requires a prosecuting attorney to consider a list of allowable and collectable expenses as the prosecuting attorney gathers information from a victim to submit to the court to determine restitution.The bill creates the division of restitution services planning group (planning group) in the department of human services' (department) office of economic security. The planning group is required to draft a plan that will help facilitate the creation of a new division of restitution services. The planning group must submit a report to the house of representatives judiciary committee and the senate judiciary committee, or any successor committees; the governor; and the department.The bill creates the division of restitution services (division) in the department's office of economic security. The director of the division is appointed by the governor. Pursuant to the planning group's recommendations, the duties of the division are:

• To coordinate with the planning group to implement its recommendations;
• To collaborate with state agencies to support a centralized state restitution case registry system;
• To support and guide victims seeking restitution;
• To advocate to the general assembly and state agencies on behalf of victims navigating the restitution system; and
• To educate victims, defendants, and other state agencies on the restitution system.

The bill provides a list of allowable restitution expenses if proximately caused by a crime for which restitution must be paid, which includes travel expenses to certain court proceedings. The court is required to review the travel expenses to ensure the travel expenses are reasonable. If the court finds the travel expenses are unreasonable, the court may reduce the amount of recoverable travel expenses to a reasonable amount.The bill requires the department of corrections to intercept government windfall payments (payments) before the payments are deposited in an inmate's bank account and disperse each payment in accordance with the order of crediting payments in criminal proceedings.The bill establishes the office of restitution services (office) in the judicial department. The purpose of the office is to assist victims who are owed court-ordered restitution. The office is required to receive requests from victims requesting semiannual statements detailing restitution payments the defendant has made to the victim and the disbursements the court has made to the victim. The statement must include the outstanding amount of court-ordered restitution owed to the victim. The office is also required to assist with training related to the administration of the restitution system, enhance communications for postsentence restitution, and collaborate with victim advocacy programs.The bill appropriates $129,359 to the judicial department from the judicial collection enhancement fund to establish the office.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)