Committee backs bills to shift sexual-assault exam fees to crime victims fund and allow narrow confidentiality exceptions

The Committee on Judiciary heard companion measures relating to the Crime Victims Compensation Division.

House Bill 26-13 would require the Crime Victims Compensation Board to establish and pay the fee for forensic sexual-assault examinations and to use monies from the Crime Victims Compensation Fund for that purpose; the Reviser's Office briefed the statutory changes in KSA 65-448 and related provisions (KSA 74-7304, KSA 74-7317). Proponents said the change centralizes billing and eases confusion when victims move across county lines or seek care in another state.

Kristen Chugala, division chief of victim services at the Attorney General’s Office, told the committee the majority of states already use compensation programs to pay these exam fees and that shifting payment to the board would provide consistency and allow hospitals to direct-bill the board. She said the board’s fund is primarily offender-funded and that the fund is able to receive a federal match (estimated up to 75%) on eligible state spending. Richard Samaniego, chair of the Crime Victims Compensation Board, said the centralized approach would streamline services and improve victims’ navigation of benefits.

HB 26-14 would add narrow exceptions to the division’s confidentiality rules so the board can disclose records it possesses if those records were not previously available to an agency investigating or prosecuting child abuse/neglect, or if the records are found to be false or fraudulent and disclosure is needed to pursue an investigation. Chugala and Samaniego said the exceptions are modeled on the child-death-review board’s recent changes, are narrowly tailored, and intended to preserve confidentiality while allowing the board to refer potential fraud or previously unseen evidence to law enforcement.

Committee members asked whether moving costs to the compensation fund would drain it and how quickly hospitals could be reimbursed. Proponents said the bill does not appropriate new funds, the fund is stable and funded primarily through offender fines and other statutory sources, and direct billing could allow hospitals to be reimbursed within about 30 days. Members requested fund-balance figures from the fiscal analyst; proponents said they would provide them.

Both bills were closed out of hearing and will proceed through the legislative process; no committee vote on either bill was recorded during the session.