Victim compensation board hears calls for spending transparency after report shows rising denials

Margaret Petros, executive director of the Bay Area nonprofit Mothers Against Murder, urged the California Victim Compensation Board to provide a clearer accounting of funds after reading the agency's annual report.

"When an agency hold 172,000,000 in its hands and less than a third of that ever reaches the people it is meant for, that's really bad management," Petros said, citing figures in the report that she described as concerning: an appropriation of about $172.6 million and roughly $44 million reaching victims.

The board heard several public comments during the meeting's public-comment period that echoed similar themes. Miss Taylor, an applicant who has used the system since 2022, asked for more detail on appeals and access: she requested statistics on appeals and asked "what disparities were identified and how are these disparities being addressed?" Taylor also urged that advocate-portal features be made available to self-represented applicants.

Executive Officer Linda Gledhill responded during her executive-officer report that CalVCB aimed to "put victims first," defended the transparency in the annual report and explained factors that can affect denial rates. "When you do things like we've been doing with the outreach ... you tend to see more applications ... and that naturally leads to an increase in the denial rate," she said, noting some applications are not relevant to the program.

Board members and staff also said some denials were related to referrals and an ongoing investigation that affected the numbers. Chief counsel told the board in the meeting that the agency could not provide public detail about the investigation while it remains active, but staff acknowledged it had a measurable impact on the denial statistics.

Members of the public asked the board to break down allowed versus denied claims by race and ethnicity and to report administrative costs versus funds paid directly to victims. Board members said the annual report made progress on transparency but that additional breakdowns'including declinations by race and a clearer percentage split between administrative costs and direct victim payments'would be useful in future reports.

What happened next: The board did not vote on any policy change during the meeting. Staff said they would continue to review the appeals process and are hiring attorneys and analysts to address an ongoing backlog.

Why it matters: Claimants, advocates and board members said the public needs clearer data to judge whether CalVCB is meeting its statutory mission and whether process or outreach changes are affecting eligibility determinations.

Provenance: The article draws on public comment by Margaret Petros (transcript start 00:03:02) and the executive officer report by Linda Gledhill (transcript start 00:22:17), plus applicant remarks by Miss Taylor (transcript start 00:08:18).