Arizona SB 1780: victim compensation; assistance fund; rules

Bill Text

SB1780 - 551R - I Ver 

 REFERENCE TITLE: victim compensation; 
 assistance fund; rules

 State of 
 Arizona

 Senate

 Fifty-fifth 
 Legislature

 First Regular 
 Session

 2021

 SB 1780

 Introduced by 

 Senators Gonzales: Peshlakai

AN ACT

amending section 
41-2407, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to the victim compensation 
and assistance fund.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 41-2407, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE41-2407. Victim compensation and assistance fund; subrogation; prohibited 
debt collection activity; definition 

A. The victim compensation and assistance fund is 
established. The Arizona criminal justice commission shall 
administer the fund.� The victim compensation and assistance fund shall consist 
of monies collected pursuant to section 31-411, subsection E and sections 
12-116.08, 13-4311, 31-418, 31-467.06 and 41-1674, 
unclaimed victim restitution monies pursuant to sections 22-116 and 44-313 
and monies available from any other source.

B. Subject to legislative appropriation, the Arizona 
criminal justice commission shall allocate monies in the victim compensation 
and assistance fund to public and private agencies for the purpose of 
establishing, maintaining and supporting programs that compensate and assist 
victims of crime.

C. The allocation of monies pursuant to this section 
shall be made in accordance with rules adopted by the Arizona criminal justice 
commission pursuant to section 41-2405, subsection A, paragraph 
8. The rules shall provide that persons who suffered personal injury 
or death that resulted from an attempt to aid a public safety officer in the 
prevention of a crime or the apprehension of a criminal may be eligible for 
compensation. The rules shall not require that a 
victim report the crime to a law enforcement agency within thirty days or, if 
the offense includes domestic violence, within one hundred eighty days to be 
eligible for compensation.

D. This state and the applicable operational unit or 
qualified program, as defined in the victim compensation program rules, are 
subrogated to the rights of an individual who receives monies from the victim 
compensation and assistance fund to recover or receive monies or benefits from 
a third party, to the extent of the amount of monies the individual receives 
from the fund.

E. A licensed health care provider who agrees to the 
victim compensation program rules may receive program monies for providing 
health and medical services to a victim or claimant. A licensed 
health care provider who accepts the full allowable payment for those services 
from a victim compensation program funded pursuant to this section is deemed to 
have accepted the payment as the full payment for those 
services. The licensed health care provider may not collect or 
attempt to collect any payment for the same health and medical services from 
the victim or claimant, except that if a victim compensation program funded 
pursuant to this section is unable to pay the full allowable payment to a 
licensed health care provider because of a lack of available monies or for any 
other reason, the licensed health care provider may collect the unpaid balance 
for the services from the victim or claimant or from a third-party payor, 
and the total amount billed or requested by the licensed health care provider 
may not exceed the full allowable payment that the licensed health care 
provider agreed to accept from the victim compensation program for the 
services.

F. If a licensed health care provider receives 
notice that a person has filed a claim with a victim compensation program 
funded by this section, the licensed health care provider is prohibited from 
any debt collection activity for any monies owed by the person that are 
included in the filed claim until an award is made on the claim or until a 
determination is made that the claim is noncompensable.� For the purposes of 
this subsection, "debt collection activity" includes repeatedly 
telephoning or writing to the claimant and threatening to either turn the 
matter over to a debt collection agency or to an attorney for collection, 
enforcement or filing of any other debt collection process. Debt 
collection activity does not include routine billing or inquiries about the 
status of the claim.

G. For the purposes of this section, "licensed 
health care provider" means a person or institution that is licensed or certified 
by this state to provide health care services, medical services, nursing 
services, emergency medical services and ambulance services that are regulated 
pursuant to title 36, chapter 21.1, article 2 or other health-related 
services. END_STATUTE