II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2074

To increase the special assessment for felonies and improve the enforcement

of sentences imposing criminal fines, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 4 (legislative day, MAY 2), 1994

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To increase the special assessment for felonies and improve

the enforcement of sentences imposing criminal fines,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crime Victim Assist5 ance Improvement Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS ON CONVICTED PERSONS.

7 (a) INCREASE.—Section 3013(a)(2) of title 18,

8 United States Code, is amended—

9 (1) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘$50’’ and

10 inserting ‘‘not less than $100’’; and
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1 (2) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘$200’’

2 and inserting ‘‘not less than $400’’.

3 (b) EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF OBLIGATION.—Sec4 tion 3013(c) of title 18, United States Code, is amended

5 by striking ‘‘five’’ and inserting ‘‘20’’.

6 SEC. 3. TIMING OF PAYMENT OF FINES AND RESTITUTION.

7 (a) CLARIFICATION OF PROVISION CONCERNING

8 WHEN A FINE MUST BE PAID.—Section 3572(d) of title

9 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

10 ‘‘(d) TIME, METHOD OF PAYMENT, AND RELATED

11 ITEMS.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise or13 dered under paragraph (2), a person sentenced to

14 pay a fine or other monetary penalty shall not be re15 leased from custody following sentencing until the

16 person has paid the fine or penalty in full.

17 ‘‘(2) DELAYED PAYMENT.—(A) At sentencing,

18 the court may, if the interest of justice requires, per19 mit the defendant to delay payment of a fine or

20 other penalty.

21 ‘‘(B) If the court permits the defendant to

22 delay payment of a fine or penalty, the court shall

23 require that—

24 ‘‘(i) an installment on the criminal debt be

25 paid immediately or as soon as the court deter-
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1 mines that it would be possible for the defend2 ant to pay an installment;

3 ‘‘(ii) the criminal debt be paid in full by a

4 date certain, which shall not be a date later

5 than the date that is 5 years (not including any

6 term of imprisonment) after the date of sen7 tencing; and

8 ‘‘(iii) the defendant make payment in equal

9 monthly installments or on such other schedule

10 as the court may specify.’’.

11 (b) AMENDMENT OF PROVISION CONCERNING WHEN

12 RESTITUTION MUST BE PAID.—Section 3663(f) of title

13 18, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘(f)(1)

14 The court may require’’ and all that follows through ‘‘(4)

15 The order of restitution’’ and inserting the following:

16 ‘‘(f) TIME, METHOD OF PAYMENT, AND RELATED

17 ITEMS.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise or19 dered under paragraph (2), a person required to pay

20 restitution shall not be released from custody follow21 ing sentencing until the person has paid the restitu22 tion in full.

23 ‘‘(2) DELAYED PAYMENT.—(A) At sentencing,

24 the court may, if the interest of justice requires, per25 mit the defendant to delay payment of restitution.
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1 ‘‘(B) If the court permits the defendant to

2 delay payment of restitution, the court shall require

3 that—

4 ‘‘(i) an installment on the debt of restitu5 tion be paid immediately or as soon as the

6 court determines that it would be possible for

7 the defendant to pay an installment;

8 ‘‘(ii) the debt of restitution be paid in full

9 by a date certain, which shall not be a date

10 later than the date that is 5 years (not includ11 ing any term of imprisonment) after the date of

12 sentencing; and

13 ‘‘(iii) the person make payment in equal

14 monthly installments or on such other schedule

15 as the court may specify.

16 ‘‘(C) This paragraph shall not be construed to

17 limit any right that a victim may have to obtain and

18 enforce a civil judgment against the defendant or

19 seek any other legal remedy available to the victim

20 to redress any injury caused by the defendant.

21 ‘‘(3) RECIPIENT OF PAYMENT.—The order of

22 restitution’’.
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1 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT OF SENTENCE OF A FINE THROUGH

2 ORDER SUSPENDING FEDERAL BENEFITS OR

3 REQUIRING COMMUNITY SERVICE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3572 of title 18, United

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow6 ing new subsection:

7 ‘‘(j) SUSPENSION OF FEDERAL BENEFITS.—

8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection—

9 ‘‘(A) ‘Federal benefit’ means a grant, con10 tract, loan, professional license, or commercial

11 license provided by an agency of the United

12 States or by any entity using appropriated

13 funds of the United States (including a retire14 ment, welfare, Social Security, health, disabil15 ity, or veterans’ benefit, public housing, or any

16 similar benefit, or any other benefit for which

17 payments or services are required for eligi18 bility); and

19 ‘‘(B) ‘veterans’ benefit’ means a benefit

20 provided to veterans, their families, or survivors

21 under laws administered by the Secretary of

22 Veterans Affairs.

23 ‘‘(2) ORDER.—If a defendant is delinquent in

24 paying a fine or other monetary penalty imposed

25 under this section, the court may, after a hearing,

26 issue an order that—
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1 ‘‘(A) suspends the provision of Federal

2 benefits to the defendant for the time period in

3 which the defendant is delinquent, until such

4 time as—

5 ‘‘(i) the delinquency is cured; or

6 ‘‘(ii) if the court so orders, the de7 fendant demonstrates a good-faith effort to

8 cure the delinquency; or

9 ‘‘(B) if the defendant demonstrates that

10 the defendant is unable to make payments as

11 required—

12 ‘‘(i) sets a payment schedule that will

13 require the defendant to pay the maximum

14 amounts that the defendant can reasonably

15 be expected to pay under the cir16 cumstances; or

17 ‘‘(ii) requires the defendant to per18 form any community service that would be

19 appropriate for an offender to perform,

20 under guidelines issued by the Attorney

21 General.

22 ‘‘(3) REINSTATEMENT OF BENEFITS.—An

23 order under paragraph (2) may provide that if the

24 defendant cures a delinquency for any time period,

25 a Federal benefit that is in the form of a payment
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1 of money or other instrument of value to which the

2 defendant would have been entitled with respect to

3 that time period shall be provided to the defendant

4 (without addition of interest for the delay in pay5 ment).’’.

6 (b) APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT.—The amendment

7 made by subsection (a) shall not be applied to deny a Fed8 eral benefit to any person until the date on which the At9 torney General, in consultation with the Director of the

10 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, issues

11 a written determination that a criminal debt payment

12 tracking system operated by the agency responsible for the

13 collection of criminal debt has established communications

14 links with entities that administer Federal benefit pro15 grams that are sufficient to ensure that Federal benefits

16 are not denied to any person except as authorized by the

17 amendment made by law.

18 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con19 gress that the States should adopt procedures for the en20 forcement of fines similar to those adopted by the amend21 ment made by subsection (a).

22 SEC. 5. CRIME VICTIMS FUND.

23 (a) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS FOR COSTS AND

24 GRANTS.—Section 1402(d)(4) of the Victims of Crime Act
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1 of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10601(d)(4)) is amended to read as

2 follows:

3 ‘‘(4)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the Di4 rector may retain any portion of the Fund that was

5 deposited during a fiscal year that is in excess of

6 110 percent of the total amount deposited in the

7 Fund during the preceding fiscal year as a reserve

8 for use in a year in which the Fund falls below the

9 amount available in the previous year.

10 ‘‘(B) The amount held in reserve under sub11 paragraph (A) at any time shall not exceed

12 $20,000,000.’’.

13 (b) PROHIBITION OF PAYMENTS TO DELINQUENT

14 CRIMINAL DEBTORS BY STATE CRIME VICTIM COM15 PENSATION PROGRAMS.—Section 1403(b) of the Victims

16 of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10602(b)) is amended—

17 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

18 (7);

19 (2) by redesignating paragraph (8) as para20 graph (9); and

21 (3) by inserting after paragraph (7) the follow22 ing new paragraph:

23 ‘‘(8) such program does not provide compensa24 tion to any person who has been convicted of an of25 fense under Federal law with respect to any time pe-
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1 riod during which the person is delinquent in paying

2 a fine or other monetary penalty imposed for the of3 fense; and’’.

4 (c) EXCLUSION FROM INCOME FOR PURPOSES OF

5 MEANS TESTS.—Section 1403 of the Victims of Crime

6 Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10602) is amended by inserting

7 after subsection (b) the following new subsection:

8 ‘‘(c) EXCLUSION FROM INCOME FOR PURPOSES OF

9 MEANS TESTS.—Notwithstanding any other law, for the

10 purpose of any maximum allowed income eligibility re11 quirement in any Federal, State, or local government pro12 gram using Federal funds that provides medical or other

13 assistance (or payment or reimbursement of the cost of

14 such assistance) that becomes necessary to an applicant

15 for such assistance in full or in part because of the com16 mission of a crime against the applicant, as determined

17 by the Director, any amount of crime victim compensation

18 that the applicant receives through a crime victim com19 pensation program under this section shall not be included

20 in the income of the applicant until the total amount of

21 assistance that the applicant receives from all such pro22 grams is sufficient to fully compensate the applicant for

23 losses suffered as a result of the crime.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. FORFEITURE OF COLLATERAL PROFITS OF CRIME.

2 (a) DECLARATIONS.—The Congress declares the fol3 lowing:

4 (1) In the case of Simon & Schuster, Inc. v.

5 New York State Victims Board, ll U.S. ll,

6 112 S.Ct. ll (1991), the Supreme Court over7 turned New York’s ‘‘Son of Sam’’ law on the

8 grounds that—

9 (A) the law appeared to focus on restrict10 ing an offender’s right to freedom of speech, in

11 that the law called for forfeiture only of income

12 derived from an offender’s activity such as de13 scribing the offender’s participation in the of14 fense or the offender’s life story for publication

15 in the news or entertainment media, but did not

16 require forfeiture of any other type of profit

17 that an offender might be able to realize as a

18 result of the notoriety that may attach to an

19 offender;

20 (B) that restrictive effect did not appear to

21 be well designed to further the primary interest

22 asserted by the State of New York in enacting

23 the law, namely, the interest in providing a

24 source of funds out of which victims of an of25 fense could seek restitution; and
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1 (C) the law, which applied not only to per2 sons who are convicted of a crime but also to

3 those who merely have been accused, brought

4 under its coverage a broad range of activities,

5 many of which might be seen as relatively in6 nocuous, or at least not sufficiently serious to

7 justify the penalty that the law imposed.

8 (2) The case arguably draws into question the

9 validity of a similar (but not identical) Federal law,

10 section 3681 of title 18, United States Code, so that

11 it is appropriate for Congress to make clear the in12 terest that that law is intended to further and to

13 amend the law so as to make sure that it does not

14 suffer from the deficiencies found by the Supreme

15 Court in the ‘‘Son of Sam’’ law.

16 (3) A person who has been convicted of a crimi17 nal offense not only should be prevented from retain18 ing anything of value obtained by the offender dur19 ing commission of the offense, but, to the extent

20 practicable, should also be precluded from accepting

21 anything of value that any person might offer by

22 reason of the notoriety of the offender in a case that

23 has been publicized in the news media and caught

24 the interest of the public.
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1 (4) The interest of the Government in preclud2 ing an offender from profiting from an offense,

3 which is the interest that the Congress hereby de4 clares is the interest that section 3681 of title 18,

5 United States Code seeks to assert, is that of pun6 ishing the offender and removing from the minds of

7 any potential offenders the thought that a person

8 may profit from the commission of a crime. If an of9 fender should be permitted to realize any profit at

10 all from the commission of a crime, it should be only

11 for the purpose of raising funds with which to pay

12 restitution to victims or a fine imposed by the court;

13 any excess earnings should be forfeited to the Crime

14 Victims Fund.

15 (b) AMENDMENT OF SECTION 3681 OF TITLE 18,

16 UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 3681(a) of title 18,

17 United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

18 ‘‘(a) Upon the motion of the United States attorney

19 made at any time after conviction of a defendant of an

20 offense punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year,

21 after notice to interested parties, the court shall order the

22 defendant to forfeit any payment of money or anything

23 of value given to or for the benefit of the defendant in

24 exchange for any item sold or service provided by the de25 fendant if, under the circumstances, it is evident that—
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1 ‘‘(1) the payment would not have been offered

2 but for the notoriety of the defendant as the person

3 who committed the offense; or

4 ‘‘(2) the sale or service is otherwise related to

5 the defendant’s having committed the offense.’’.

6 SEC. 7. AVAILABILITY OF CRIME VICTIMS FUND FOR

7 INDIAN TRIBES.

8 (a) AMOUNTS OF FUNDS FOR COSTS AND GRANTS.—

9 Section 1402(d)(2) of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984

10 (42 U.S.C. 10601(d)(2)) is amended—

11 (1) in subparagraph (A) by inserting ‘‘, of

12 which 2.5 percent of the funds available under sec13 tion 1403 shall be available for Indian tribes and

14 tribal organizations that serve victims of crime’’ be15 fore the semicolon; and

16 (2) in subparagraph (B) by inserting ‘‘, of

17 which 2.5 percent of the funds available under sec18 tion 1404 shall be available for Indian tribes and

19 tribal organizations that serve victims of crime’’ be20 fore the semicolon.

21 (b) CRIME VICTIM COMPENSATION.—Section 1403 of

22 the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10602) is

23 amended—

24 (1) in subsection (a) by adding at the end the

25 following new paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(3) The Director shall make grants directly to

2 Indian tribes and tribal organizations from funds available

3 under section 1402(d)(2)(A).’’;

4 (2) in subsection (b)—

5 (A) by striking ‘‘A crime victim compensa6 tion program’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) STATE PRO7 GRAMS.—A State crime victim compensation

8 program’’;

9 (B) by striking ‘‘(1) such program is oper10 ated’’ and inserting ‘‘(A) such program is oper11 ated’’;

12 (C) by striking ‘‘(2) such program pro13 motes’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) such program pro14 motes’’;

15 (D) by striking ‘‘(3) such State certifies’’

16 and inserting ‘‘(C) such State certifies’’;

17 (E) by striking ‘‘(4) such program,’’ and

18 inserting ‘‘(D) such program,’’;

19 (F) by striking ‘‘(5) such program’’ and

20 inserting ‘‘(E) such program’’;

21 (G) by striking ‘‘(6) such program’’ and

22 inserting ‘‘(F) such program’’;

23 (H) by striking ‘‘(A) the crimes’’ and in24 serting ‘‘(i) the crimes’’;
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1 (I) by striking ‘‘(B) the places’’ and insert2 ing ‘‘(ii) the places’’;

3 (J) by striking ‘‘(7) such program’’ and in4 serting ‘‘(G) such program’’;

5 (K) by striking ‘‘(8) such program’’ and

6 inserting ‘‘(H) such program’’; and

7 (L) by adding at the end the following new

8 paragraph:

9 ‘‘(2) TRIBAL PROGRAMS.—

10 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBILITY.—A crime victim com11 pensation program of an Indian tribe or tribal

12 organization is an eligible crime victim program

13 for the purposes of this section if the program

14 meets criteria established by the Director that

15 are consistent with those stated in paragraph

16 (1), as modified by the Director to account for

17 the resources and needs of Indian tribes and

18 tribal organizations.

19 ‘‘(B) USE OF EXCESS FUNDS.—If for any

20 fiscal year the amount of funds required to be

21 made available for Indian tribes and tribal or22 ganizations under section 1402(d)(2)(A) ex23 ceeds the amount that crime victim compensa24 tion programs of Indian tribes and tribal orga25 nizations need to compensate victims—
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1 ‘‘(i) not to exceed $105,000 of that

2 excess shall be made available to provide

3 training and technical assistance to tribes

4 and tribal organizations in establishing and

5 administering victim compensation pro6 grams; and

7 ‘‘(ii) any remaining excess shall be

8 made available for grants generally admin9 istered under 1403.’’;

10 (3) in subsection (d)—

11 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para12 graph (3);

13 (B) by striking the period at the end of

14 paragraph (4) and inserting a semicolon; and

15 (C) by adding at the end the following new

16 paragraphs:

17 ‘‘(5) ‘Indian tribe’ has the meaning stated in

18 section 103 of the Indian Self-Determination and

19 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b); and

20 ‘‘(6) ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning stat21 ed in section 103 of the Indian Self-Determination

22 and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).’’.

23 (c) CRIME VICTIM ASSISTANCE.—Section 1404 of the

24 Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10603) is

25 amended—
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1 (1) in subsection (a)(1) by inserting ‘‘(except

2 the portion made available for Indian tribes and

3 tribal organizations)’’ after ‘‘1402(d)(2)’’;

4 (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub5 section (e);

6 (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the follow7 ing new subsection:

8 ‘‘(d) GRANTS TO INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGA9 NIZATIONS.—(1) The Director shall make grants directly

10 to Indian tribes and tribal organizations from funds avail11 able under section 1402(d)(2)(B).

12 ‘‘(2) A grant under this subsection shall be used for

13 the purposes describe in subsection (c) and for such other

14 purposes related to crime victim assistance as the Director

15 considers to be appropriate.’’; and

16 (4) in subsection (e), as redesignated by para17 graph (2)—

18 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para19 graph (4);

20 (B) by striking the period at the end of

21 paragraph (5) and inserting a semicolon; and

22 (C) by adding at the end the following new

23 paragraphs:
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1 ‘‘(6) ‘Indian tribe’ has the meaning stated in

2 section 103 of the Indian Self-Determination and

3 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b); and

4 ‘‘(7) ‘tribal organization’ has the meaning stat5 ed in section 103 of the Indian Self-Determination

6 and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).’’.

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