Senate Bill S3402

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S3402

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to child victims


 PURPOSE :

This bill would clarify that the Crime Victims Board (CVB) may make
certain awards to child victims even in the absence of physical
injury.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill amends Executive Law §631 by adding a new
subdivision to specify certain kinds of awards that could be made to
child victims in the absence of physical injury. In particular, awards
could be made for certain personal property damage, expenses of
transportation to court, and counseling expenses.

Section 2 of the bill provides that it shall take effect immediately.

 EXISTING LAW :

Current law is conflicting. The definition of "child victim" in
              

Executive Law §621(11) includes those who have not suffered physical
injury, and Executive Law §624(1)(g) includes a child victim as a
person eligible for a CVB award. However, the awards provisions in
Executive Law §631 (1) state that no award shall be made unless the
crime directly results in personal physical injury.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is a new bill.

 STATEMENT IN SUPPORT :

The CVB's awards provisions under Executive Law §631(1) specifically
require that a physical injury be sustained by a victim in order for
an award to be made. There are a few explicit exceptions to that
requirement.  SEE  Executive Law § 631(8) (elderly and disabled
victims), (11) (kidnapping victims), (12) (stalking victims). When
provisions for child victims were added, however, they did not include
an explicit exception to the physical injury requirement.  L.1986, ch.
263; L.1988, ch. 56. The above provisions are therefore in tension
with others that seem to contemplate awards to child victims even when
there has been no physical injury.   SEE  Executive Law §§ 621 (11),
624(1)(g).

Since 1988, the Board has interpreted this conflict in favor of the
child victim, determining that physical injury is not necessary for an
award to be made. This bill would resolve the conflict in Article 22,
codify the CVB's practice of the past 20 years and ensure consistent,
future application by clarifying the availability of awards to
deserving child victims.

 BUDGET IMPLICATIONS :

This bill is expected to have no fiscal impact, as it codifies the
current practice that CVB adopted in light of the existing,
conflicting statutes.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill would become immediately effective upon enactment.