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."