45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001
RELATING TO CRIMES; CHANGING DEFINITIONS; PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN WAIVERS; PROVIDING FOR A REPARATION AWARD FOR EXTRAORDINARY PECUNIARY LOSS; CLARIFYING CONFIDENTIALITY OF RECORDS; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 31-22-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 325, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"31-22-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Crime Victims Reparation Act:
A. "child" means an unmarried person who is under the age of majority and includes a stepchild and an adopted child;
B. "collateral source" includes benefits for economic loss otherwise reparable under the Crime Victims Reparation Act which the victim or claimant has received or which are readily available to him from:
(1) the offender;
(2) social security, medicare and medicaid;
(3) workers' compensation;
[(4) any program of any employer for
continuation of wages in the event of the illness or injury of
an employee;
(5)] (4) proceeds of a contract of insurance
payable to the victim;
[(6)] (5) a contract providing prepaid
hospital and other health care services or benefits for
disability, except for the benefits of any life insurance
policy;
[(7)] (6) applicable indigent funds; or
[(8)] (7) cash donations;
C. "commission" means the crime victims reparation commission;
D. "dependents" means those relatives of the deceased or disabled victim who are more than fifty percent dependent upon the victim's income at the time of his death or disability and includes the child of a victim born after his death or disability;
E. "family relationship group" means any person related to another person within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity;
F. "injury" means actual bodily harm or disfigurement and includes pregnancy and extreme mental distress. For the purposes of this subsection, "extreme mental distress" means a substantial personal disorder of emotional processes, thought or cognition that impairs judgment, behavior or ability to cope with the ordinary demands of life;
G. "permanent total physical disability" means the loss of both legs, both arms, one leg and one arm, total loss of eyesight, paralysis or other physical condition that permanently incapacitates the worker from performing any work in a gainful occupation.
[G.] H. "relative" means a person's spouse,
parent, grandparent, stepfather, stepmother, child,
grandchild, [minor] brother, [minor] sister, [minor]
half-brother, [minor] half-sister or spouse's parents; and
[H.] I. "victim" means:
(1) a person in New Mexico who is injured or killed by any act or omission of any other person that is a crime enumerated in Section 31-22-8 NMSA 1978;
(2) a resident of New Mexico who is injured or killed by such a crime occurring in a state other than New Mexico if that state does not have an eligible crime victims compensation program; or
(3) a resident of New Mexico who is injured or killed by an act of international terrorism, as provided in 18 U.S.C. Section 2331."
Section 2. Section 31-22-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 325, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:
"31-22-8. CRIMES ENUMERATED.--
A. The crimes to which the Crime Victims Reparation Act applies and for which reparation to victims may be made are the following enumerated offenses and all other offenses in which any enumerated offense is necessarily included:
(1) arson resulting in bodily injury;
(2) aggravated arson;
(3) aggravated assault or aggravated battery;
(4) dangerous use of explosives;
(5) negligent use of a deadly weapon;
(6) murder;
(7) voluntary manslaughter;
(8) involuntary manslaughter;
(9) kidnapping;
(10) criminal sexual penetration;
(11) criminal sexual contact of a minor;
(12) homicide by vehicle or great bodily injury by vehicle, as provided in Section 66-8-101 NMSA 1978;
(13) abandonment or abuse of a child;
(14) aggravated indecent exposure, as provided in Section 30-9-14.3 NMSA 1978; and
(15) aggravated stalking, as provided in
Section [30-3A-3] 30-3A-3.1 NMSA 1978 [when the offender has
at least one prior conviction for stalking].
B. No award shall be made for any loss or damage to property."
Section 3. Section 31-22-14 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 325, Section 14, as amended) is amended to read:
"31-22-14. LIMITATIONS ON AWARD--COLLATERAL RECOVERY--
PRELIMINARY AWARD--PECUNIARY LOSS.--
A. Except as provided in Subsection B of this
section, no order for the payment of reparation shall be made
unless application has been made within two years after the
date of the injury or death and the injury or death was the
result of a crime enumerated in Section 31-22-8 NMSA 1978
[that had been] and was reported to the police within thirty
days after its occurrence. In no event shall reparation be
given unless application has been made within two years after
the date of the injury or death, except for minors who are
victims of criminal activity under the provisions of Section
30-6-1 NMSA 1978, regarding abandonment or abuse of a child,
Section 30-9-11 NMSA 1978, regarding criminal sexual
penetration, or Section 30-9-13 NMSA 1978, regarding criminal
sexual contact of a minor. The date of incident for minors
who are victims of these types of criminal activity shall be
the date the victim attains the age of eighteen years or the
date that the criminal activity is reported to a law
enforcement agency, whichever occurs first.
B. The commission may grant a waiver to a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault of the requirement, provided in Subsection A of this section, that no order for payment of reparation shall be made unless the victim reports the injury to the police within thirty days of the date of the injury; provided that the maximum time permitted for the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault to report the injury to the police shall be one hundred eighty days from the date of the injury. The commission may, in a case involving a crime against a child, accept in good faith a report that is made within thirty days of the injury or death to the children, youth and families department, a domestic violence or sexual assault service provider, a teacher or a health care provider, instead of a timely police report in order to meet the thirty-day report requirement as provided in Subsection A of this section. In such a case, a police report shall nonetheless be filed prior to the issuance of an order for the payment of reparation.
[B.] C. No award of reparation shall be in excess
of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) per victim, except that
the commission may award an additional thirty thousand dollars
($30,000) for extraordinary pecuniary losses if the personal
injury to the victim is catastrophic and results in a
permanent total physical disability. The expenses relating to
an extraordinary pecuniary loss may include, but are not
limited to, loss of wages, home health care services,
providing accessibility to a home or an automobile, training
in the use of special applications or job training. The
commission may, by rule, establish limitations on any other
pecuniary loss compensated pursuant to this section.
[C.] D. Except as provided by Subsection [E] F of
this section, the commission shall deduct from any reparation
awarded any payments received from a collateral source or from
the United States or the state or any of its political
subdivisions for injury or death subject to reparation under
the Crime Victims Reparation Act. If the claimant receives an
award of reparation from the commission and also receives
payment as set forth in the preceding sentence for which no
deduction was made, the claimant shall refund to the state the
lesser of the amount of reparation paid or the sums not so
deducted.
[D.] E. If the claimant receives an award of
reparation from the commission and also receives an award
pursuant to a civil judgment arising from a criminal
occurrence for which a reparation award was paid, the claimant
shall refund to the state the amount of the reparation paid to
him. The commission may negotiate a reasonable settlement
regarding repayment of the reparation award if special
circumstances exist.
[E.] F. If it appears that a final award of
reparation will be made by the commission, a preliminary award
[not to exceed three thousand five hundred dollars ($3,500)]
may be authorized by the director of the commission or the
commission's designee when the commission chairman concurs.
The amount of the preliminary award shall be deducted from any
final award made by the commission."
Section 4. Section 31-22-18 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 325, Section 18, as amended) is amended to read:
"31-22-18. CONFIDENTIALITY OF RECORDS, REPORTS AND CLAIM
FILES.--[Any] A record or report acquired by the commission,
the confidentiality of which is protected by law, rule or
regulation, shall be disclosed only under the same terms and
conditions [which] that protected its confidentiality prior to
such acquisition. The claim file, which contains [the
victim's name, address, telephone number and other personal
information regarding the victim] confidential reports,
records and personal information, shall not be released."