H-3960.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 2562
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1992 Regular Session
By Representatives Fraser, Miller, Belcher, Paris, Pruitt, Mitchell, Heavey, Brough, Rasmussen, J. Kohl, Winsley and Brekke
Read first time 01/22/92. Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
AN ACT Relating to crime victims' compensation for victims of childhood crimes; amending RCW 7.68.060; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 7.68.060 and 1990 c 3 s 501 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) For the purposes of applying for benefits under this chapter, the rights, privileges, responsibilities, duties, limitations and procedures contained in RCW 51.28.020, 51.28.030, 51.28.040 and 51.28.060 as now or hereafter amended shall apply: PROVIDED, That, except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, no compensation of any kind shall be available under this chapter if:
(a) An application for benefits is not received by the department within one year after the date the criminal act was reported to a local police department or sheriff's office or the date the rights of dependents or beneficiaries accrued; or
(b) The criminal act is not reported by the victim or someone on his or her behalf to a local police department or sheriff's office within twelve months of its occurrence or, if it could not reasonably have been reported within that period, within twelve months of the time when a report could reasonably have been made. In making determinations as to reasonable time limits, the department shall give greatest weight to the needs of the victims.
(2) This section shall apply only to criminal acts reported after December 31, 1985.
(3) ((Because))
With respect to victims of childhood criminal acts ((may repress
conscious memory of such criminal acts far beyond the age of eighteen, the
rights of adult victims of childhood criminal acts shall accrue at the time the
victim discovers or reasonably should have discovered the elements of the crime)),
the time limitations on applying for benefits and reporting of criminal acts
contained in subsection (1) of this section begin to run as of the later of the
following:
(a) If the injury for which benefits are sought occurred when the victim was a minor and was the result of an act committed by a person living in the same household as the victim or was the result of an act committed by the victim's parent, stepparent, or grandparent, then the time begins to run as of the victim's eighteenth birthday;
(b) If the injury for which benefits are sought occurred when the victim was a minor and was the result of an act committed by anyone identified in (a) of this subsection or by anyone else, and the victim has repressed the conscious memory of the act beyond the victim's eighteenth birthday, then the time begins to run when the victim discovers or reasonably should have discovered the elements of the crime. In making determinations as to reasonable time limits, the department shall give greatest weight to the needs of the victim.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. This act applies retroactively to any injury suffered before the effective date of this act, as well as prospectively.