Bill Text: NY S07992 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the award of burial expenses by the office of victim services; permits emergency awards for burial expenses in cases of undue hardship.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-12-28 - SIGNED CHAP.494 [S07992 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S07992-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          7992
                    IN SENATE
                                     March 16, 2018
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  GALLIVAN  --  (at  request of the Office of Victim
          Services) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when  printed  to  be
          committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction
        AN  ACT  to  amend the executive law and the surrogate's court procedure
          act, in relation to burial expenses
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  2  of  section  630 of the executive law, as
     2  amended by section 21 of part A1 of chapter 56 of the laws of  2010,  is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    2. Notwithstanding the provisions of [section six hundred twenty-seven
     5  of this article, local crime victim service programs shall be authorized
     6  to  provide  emergency  awards  to  crime victims for essential personal
     7  property, medical treatment, shelter  costs,  security  services,  coun-
     8  seling  and transportation the total amount of such emergency awards not
     9  to exceed five hundred dollars. These programs shall  be  reimbursed  by
    10  the  office, pursuant to the provisions of this article, if it is subse-
    11  quently determined that the victim is an eligible claimant. Local  crime
    12  victim  service  programs  shall  be  authorized  to  establish  special
    13  accounts for this purpose. The office shall initiate a program to assist
    14  local crime victim service programs in establishing special accounts  to
    15  provide  emergency  awards, within amounts designated for that purpose.]
    16  subdivision one of this section, if the crime upon which  the  claim  is
    17  based  resulted in the death of the victim, and it appears to the office
    18  that such claim is one with respect to which an award probably  will  be
    19  made,  and  undue  hardship  will  result  to  the claimant if immediate
    20  payment is not made, the office may make one or more emergency awards to
    21  the claimant for reasonable burial expenses pending a final decision  of
    22  the  office  or payment of an award in the case; provided, however, that
    23  the total amount of an emergency award or awards for  reasonable  burial
    24  expenses  shall  not  exceed  three thousand dollars. The amount of such
    25  emergency award or awards shall be deducted from any final award made to
    26  the claimant, and the excess of the amount of any such award  or  awards
    27  over  the  amount of the final award, of the full amount of an emergency
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14379-02-8
        S. 7992                             2
     1  award or awards if no final award is made, shall be repaid by the claim-
     2  ant to the office.
     3    §  2. Subdivision 2 of section 631 of the executive law, as amended by
     4  section 3 of part H of chapter 55 of the laws of  2017,  is  amended  to
     5  read as follows:
     6    2.  Any  award made pursuant to this article shall be in an amount not
     7  exceeding  out-of-pocket  expenses,  including  indebtedness  reasonably
     8  incurred  for  medical  or  other  services necessary as a result of the
     9  injury upon which the claim  is  based;  loss  of  earnings  or  support
    10  resulting  from  such injury not to exceed thirty thousand dollars; loss
    11  of savings not to exceed thirty thousand dollars;  burial  expenses  not
    12  exceeding six thousand dollars of a victim who died on or after November
    13  first,  nineteen  ninety-six as a direct result of a crime; the costs of
    14  crime scene cleanup and securing of a crime scene not exceeding  twenty-
    15  five hundred dollars; reasonable relocation expenses not exceeding twen-
    16  ty-five hundred dollars; and the unreimbursed cost of repair or replace-
    17  ment  of  articles  of  essential  personal  property  lost,  damaged or
    18  destroyed as a direct result of the crime. An award for loss of earnings
    19  shall include earnings lost by a parent or guardian as a result  of  the
    20  hospitalization  of  a  child  victim  under  age  eighteen for injuries
    21  sustained as a direct result of a crime. In addition to the  medical  or
    22  other  services necessary as a result of the injury upon which the claim
    23  is based, an award may be made for rehabilitative occupational  training
    24  for the purpose of job retraining or similar employment-oriented rehabi-
    25  litative  services  based  upon  the  claimant's  medical and employment
    26  history. For the purpose of  this  subdivision,  rehabilitative  occupa-
    27  tional training shall include but not be limited to educational training
    28  and  expenses.  An award for rehabilitative occupational training may be
    29  made to a victim, or to a family member of a victim where necessary as a
    30  direct result of a crime.
    31    § 3. Subdivision 5 of section 631 of the executive law is  amended  by
    32  adding a new paragraph (g) to read as follows:
    33    (g)  Notwithstanding  the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi-
    34  sion, if the crime upon which the claim is based resulted in  the  death
    35  of the victim, the office shall determine whether, because of his or her
    36  conduct,  the  victim of such crime contributed to the infliction of his
    37  or her injury, and the office may reduce the amount of the award  by  no
    38  more than fifty percent, in accordance with such determination.
    39    §  4.  Section  634  of  the  executive law is amended by adding a new
    40  subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
    41    2-a. To the extent the office has made an award pursuant to this arti-
    42  cle for burial expenses, such amount shall be considered  among  reason-
    43  able  funeral  expenses  of  the decedent pursuant to subdivision one of
    44  section eighteen hundred eleven of the surrogate's court procedure  act,
    45  to  be recovered by the office, provided, however, that if a beneficiary
    46  of the victim's estate is also a person eligible  to  receive  an  award
    47  pursuant  to section six hundred twenty-four of this article, the office
    48  shall recover such amounts pursuant to subdivision two of  this  section
    49  to  the  extent an award has been made to such person, prior to pursuing
    50  recovery from the victim's estate. Any recovery from a  victim's  estate
    51  under  this subdivision shall reduce the state's lien under this section
    52  to the extent of the recovery by the office.
    53    § 5. Subdivision 22 of section 103 of the surrogate's court  procedure
    54  act,  as  amended by chapter 503 of the laws of 1980, is amended to read
    55  as follows:
        S. 7992                             3
     1    22. Funeral expense. Includes reasonable expense of a  funeral,  suit-
     2  able  church  or  other services as an integral part thereof, expense of
     3  interment or other disposition of the body, a burial  lot  and  suitable
     4  monumental  work thereon and a reasonable expenditure for perpetual care
     5  of  a  burial lot of the decedent. For the purpose of subdivision one of
     6  section eighteen hundred eleven of this act, funeral expense shall  also
     7  include  burial  expenses  awarded pursuant to article twenty-two of the
     8  executive law.
     9    § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    10  it shall have become a law and shall apply to all  claims  filed  on  or
    11  after such effective date.