An Act To Improve Access to the Victims' Compensation Fund
Maine Legislature, Session 121, LD 1510
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: BUNKER, STRIMLING
Amends: Title 18, Section 2331, 5 MRSA §3360, 5 MRSA §3360-C, 5 MRSA §3360-D, 17-A MRSA §1330-B

Legislative Document 
No. 1510 
H.P.ll03 
House of Representatives, April 2, 2003 
An Act To Improve Access to the Victims' Compensation Fund 
Submitted by the Department of the Attorney General pursuant to Joint Rule 204. 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
!rJ~/h./lP£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative BUNKER of Kossuth Township. 
Cosponsored by Senator STRIMLING of Cumberland. 
Priole<! on m:ycled I"'f"'I" 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §3360, sub-§3, as amended by PL 1997, c . 378, 
§§1 to 3, is further amended to read: 
3. 
Crime. 
"Crime" means one of
C the following: 
A. 
Offenses against the person as described in Title 17-A, 
chapter 9; 
B. 
Sexual assaults as described in Title 17-A, chapter 11; 
C. 
Kidnapping and criminal restraint as described in Title 
17-A, chapter 13; 
D. 
Robbery as described in Title 17-A, chapter 27; 
E. 
Operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor or 
drugs or with an excessive blood-alcohol level, as described 
in Title 29-A, section 2411; 
a~ 
F. 
An act of terrorism, 
Title 18, 
Section 2331, 
as defined in United States Code, 
committed outside of the United 
States against a resident of this StateTL-Q£ 
G. 
Leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident involving 
personal 
1nJury or 
death, 
1n violation of Title 
29-A, 
section 2252. 
Sec. 2. 5 MRSA §3360, sub-§4, as amended by PL 1999, c. 360, 
§2 and affected by §9, is further amended to read: 
4. 
Eliqible expenses and losses. 
"Eligible expenses and 
losses" 
means 
expenses 
and losses resulting 
from 
a 
personal 
injury sustained by an individual as a direct result of a crime 
specified in subsection 3 and may include medical and medically 
related 
expenses, 
psychological 
or 
mental 
health 
counseling 
expenses, lost wages and funeral and burial expenses. 
"Eligible 
expenses and losses" may include costs of eyeglasses, hearing 
aids, dentures or other prosthetic devices taken, lost, destroyed 
or damaged as a result of the crime, costs to repair or replace 
locks or security devices 
and costs of crime scene cleanup. 
Expenses 
and 
losses 
claimed 
under 
this 
subsection 
must 
be 
expenses or losses actually and reasonably incurred. 
Sec. 3. 5 MRSA §3360, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 378, 
§4, is amended to read: 
5. 
member" 
Faaily 
means: 
or 
the 
household 
member. 
parent, 
stepparent, 
"Family 
sibling, 
or 
household 
grandparent, 
spouse, child or stepchild of a victim; a person who bears a 
significant relationship to the victim: or a person who at the 
time or discovery of the crime was living in the household of the 
victim or who previously had lived in the household of the victim 
for a period of not less than 2 years. 
Sec. 4. 5 MRSA §3360-C, sub-§l, ,B, as enac ted by PL 1991, c. 
806, §3, is amended to read: 
B. 
The claim was filed with the board within eBe-yeaF 1 
~ 
of the occurrenC(e of the injury or compensable loss, 
or within 60 days of the discovery of injury or compensable 
loss, whichever is later. 
Sec. 5. 5 MRSA §3360-D, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1999, c. 360, 
§6 and affected by §9, is further amended by adding at the end a 
new paragraph to read: 
Upon reguest of the board, health care providers and health plans 
and insurers or other persons who payor discharge the costs of 
heal th care through settlements,' 
judgments, 
insurance, 
public 
benefits or charity care are reguired to submit directly to the 
board, pursuant to the claimant's authorization as provided in 
the signed application for compensation, any information that is 
required to sllpport 'a claimant's application or that is necessary 
to process a claim for payment. 
Sec.6. 17-A MRSA §1330-B is enacted to read: 
§1330-B. 
Restitution for benefit of victim 
When compensation is awarded from the Victims' Compensation 
Fund pursuant to Title 5, 
chapter 3l6-A, 
the 
amount of 
any 
restitution ordered to be paid to or for the benefit of the 
victim and collected by the agency specified in section l326-A as 
part of a sentence imposed must be paid by the agency collecting 
the restitution in an amount not to exceed the amount of the 
payments from the fund, directly to the fund if, when added to 
the payments from the fund, the restitution exceeds the victim's 
actual loss. 
SUMMARY 
This bill makes the following changes to the laws regarding 
the Victims' Compensation Fund: 
1. 
It expands the definition of family or household member 
to include other individuals 
"who bear an equally significant 
relationship to the victim"; 
2. 
It adds leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident to 
the list of covered crimes if the crime results in personal 
injury or death; 
3. 
It adds to eligible expenses repair or replacement of 
locks or other security devices; 
4. 
It extends the application filing deadline from one year 
to 3 years; 
5. 
It 
requires 
disclosure 
of 
relevant 
health 
information to the Victims' 
Compensation Board pursuant 
victim's signed application to the board; and 
care 
to 
a 
6. 
It 
provides 
for 
reimbursement 
to 
the 
Victims' 
Compensation Fund from restitution payments made by the offender 
after the victim's actual losses are covered.