FINAL BILL REPORT

                   SB 5811

                          C 249 L 97

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Including foreign terrorism in the definition of criminal act for the purposes of crime victim compensation and assistance.

Sponsors:  Senators Roach, Schow and Fairley; by request of Department of Labor & Industries.

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

Background:  The Department of Labor and Industries administers the crime victims= compensation program which provides financial, medical and mental health benefits to the victims of violent crimes.  Benefit payments provided by the program are secondary to all other insurance benefits including private insurance, public assistance and worker compensation.  Funds for the program come from fees, fines and assessments collected by the criminal justice system along with federal grants.

To be eligible for compensation, the criminal act must have occurred either in Washington or outside the state against a Washington resident (if that state does not have a crime victims= compensation program).

Recent federal legislation requires states= crime victim compensation programs to include state residents who are victims of terrorist acts in foreign countries.  States must enact this provision to continue to receive federal crime victim compensation grants.  The state expects to receive about $6 million in the 1997-99 biennium from federal grants.

Summary:  For the purposes of crime victims= compensation, the definition of a criminal act is expanded to include an act of terrorism committed against a Washington State resident outside the United States.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate 47 0

House     97 0

Effective:  May 2, 1997