SB2151 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB099 13057 HEP 36938 b

99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB2151

Introduced 7/14/2015, by Sen. Ira I. Silverstein

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

740 ILCS 45/10.1

from Ch. 70, par. 80.1

Amends the Crime Victims Compensation Act. Provides that a crime victim or another person may be compensated for legal expenses and court costs related to the enforcement of the crime victim's rights.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning civil law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Crime Victims Compensation Act is amended by changing Section 10.1 as follows:

(740 ILCS 45/10.1) (from Ch. 70, par. 80.1)

Sec. 10.1. Amount of compensation. The amount of compensation to which an applicant and other persons are entitled shall be based on the following factors:

(a) A victim may be compensated for his or her pecuniary loss, including but not limited to legal expenses and court costs related to the enforcement of the crime victim's rights.

(b) A dependent may be compensated for loss of support.

(c) Any person, even though not dependent upon the victim for his or her support, may be compensated for reasonable expenses of the victim to the extent to which he or she has paid or become obligated to pay such expenses, including but not limited to legal expenses and court costs related to the enforcement of the crime victim's rights, and only after compensation for reasonable funeral, medical and hospital expenses of the victim have been awarded may compensation be made for reasonable expenses of the victim incurred for psychological treatment of a mental or emotional condition caused or aggravated by the crime.

(d) An award shall be reduced or denied according to the extent to which the victim's acts or conduct provoked or contributed to his or her injury or death, or the extent to which any prior criminal conviction or conduct of the victim may have directly or indirectly contributed to the injury or death of the victim.

(e) An award shall be reduced by the amount of benefits, payments or awards payable under those sources which are required to be listed under item (7) of Section 7.1(a) and any other sources except annuities, pension plans, Federal Social Security payments payable to dependents of the victim and the net proceeds of the first $25,000 of life insurance that would inure to the benefit of the applicant, which the applicant or any other person dependent for the support of a deceased victim, as the case may be, has received or to which he or she is entitled as a result of injury to or death of the victim.

(f) A final award shall not exceed $10,000 for a crime committed prior to September 22, 1979, $15,000 for a crime committed on or after September 22, 1979 and prior to January 1, 1986, $25,000 for a crime committed on or after January 1, 1986 and prior to August 7, 1998, or $27,000 for a crime committed on or after August 7, 1998. If the total pecuniary loss is greater than the maximum amount allowed, the award shall be divided in proportion to the amount of actual loss among those entitled to compensation.

(g) Compensation under this Act is a secondary source of compensation and the applicant must show that he or she has exhausted the benefits reasonably available under the Criminal Victims' Escrow Account Act or any governmental or medical or health insurance programs, including but not limited to Workers' Compensation, the Federal Medicare program, the State Public Aid program, Social Security Administration burial benefits, Veterans Administration burial benefits, and life, health, accident or liability insurance.

(Source: P.A. 97-817, eff. 1-1-13.)