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Minutes for HB2574 - Committee on Judiciary
Short Title
Establishing a time limitation for awarding compensation for mental health counseling and increasing certain compensation award amounts by the crime victims compensation board.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 9, 2022
Chairperson Patton opened the hearing on HB2574. Natalie Scott provided an overview of the bill. (Attachment 1)
Proponent
Richard Samaniego explained HB2574 simply increases the statutory limits for certain claims that have not been updated for quite some time. For funeral expenses the allowable expenses would be increased to $7,500.00. The current limitation of $5,000.00 was last increased in 1998. The majority of funeral bills submitted to the Crime Victims Compensation Board (CVCB) exceed $5,000 with families having to pay any costs above the CVCB cap. The crime scene clean up limitation of $1,000.00 was added in 2007 and has never increased. Recently, crime scene clean-up costs have averaged around $2,500.00. Additionally, HB2574 removes the $100 minimum for crime related expenses before CVCB can pay. For some victims, any expense presents a financial hardship, even if under $100. Finally, HB2574 provides a correction to restore provisions related to the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative that we believe were inadvertently removed with the passage of HB2077 in 2021. Mr. Samaniego respectfully requested the committee’s favorable recommendation of the legislation. He stood for questions. (Attachment 2)
Lindsie Ford stated HB2574 providing access to appropriate mental health treatment which can have a profound impact on a sexual violence survivor's ability to process their experience, deal with the associated trauma, and continue to live a healthy life. Ideally, all sexual assault survivors would have access to mental health treatment at any and all phases of their lives. While that is not the current proposal, this bill provides additional time for survivors to access much-needed services and the Kansas Coalition Sexual Domestic Violence strongly supports it. Ms. Ford stood for questions. (Attachment 3)
Chairperson Patton closed the hearing on HB2574.
