2003-2004 Bill 180: Crime Victims Services Department and Commission Created - South Carolina

South Carolina General Assembly

115th Session, 2003-2004

S. 180

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill

Sponsors: Senators McConnell, Hayes and Ford

Document Path: l:\s-jud\bills\mcconnell\jud0010.gfm.doc

Introduced in the Senate on January 14, 2003

Currently residing in the Senate

Summary: Crime Victims Services Department and Commission created

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

DateBodyAction Description with journal page number

1/14/2003SenateIntroduced and read first time SJ96

1/14/2003SenateReferred to Committee on JudiciarySJ96

4/6/2004SenateCommittee report: Majority favorable with amend., minority unfavorable JudiciarySJ8

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

1/14/2003

4/6/2004

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

COMMITTEE REPORT

April 6, 2004

S.180

Introduced by Senators McConnell, Hayes and Ford

S. Printed 4/6/04--S.

Read the first time January 14, 2003.

THE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

To whom was referred a Bill (S.180) to amend the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, by adding Section 130125 so as to designate the Department of Crime Victim Services as a department, etc., respectfully

REPORT:

That they have duly and carefully considered the same and recommend that the same do pass with amendment:

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting therein the following:

/SECTION1.This act may be referred to as the “South Carolina Department of Crime Victim Services Act”.

SECTION2.Section 13010(A) of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

“20.Department of Crime Victim Services”

SECTION3.Section 130110 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

“Section 130110.Effective July 1, 1993, the following agencies, boards, and commissions, including all of the allied, advisory, affiliated, or related entities as well as the employees, funds, property, and all contractual rights and obligations associated with any such agency, except for those subdivisions specifically included under another department, are hereby transferred to and incorporated in and shall be administered as part of the officeOffice of the Governor:

(1)Continuum of Care for Emotionally Disturbed Children provided for at Section 2075610, et seq.;

(2)Guardian Adad Litem Program, formerly provided for at Section 207121, et seq.;

(3)State Office of Victim’s Assistance, formerly provided for at Section 1631110, et seq.;

(4)Department of Veterans Affairs, formerly provided for at Section 251110, et seq.;

(5)(4)Commission on Women, formerly provided for at Section 11510, et seq.;

(6)(5)Commission on Aging, formerly provided for at Section 432110, et seq.;

(7)(6)Foster Care Review Board, formerly provided for at Section 2072376, et seq.;”

SECTION4.Chapter 30, Title 1 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

“Section 130125.Effective July 1, 2004, the following agencies, boards, and commissions, including all of the allied, advisory, affiliated, or related entities as well as the employees, funds, property, and all contractual rights and obligations associated with any such agency, are transferred to and incorporated in and shall be administered as part of the Department of Crime Victim Services:

(A)State Office of Victims’ Assistance, provided for in Section 1631410;

(B)South Carolina Advisory Board for Victim Assistance, provided for in Section 1631160; and

(C)That portion of the Office of Safety and Grants Division of the Department of Public Safety that administers the Victims of Crime Act grants, the Violence Against Women Act grants, and the State Victim’s Assistance Program grants.”

SECTION5.Section 141204 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 329 of 2002, is further amended to read:

“Section 141204.The onehundred dollar filing fee for documents and actions described in Section 821310(11)(a) must be remitted to the county in which the proceeding is instituted, and fiftysix percent of these filing fee revenues must be delivered to the county treasurer to be remitted monthly by the fifteenth day of each month to the State Treasurer. When a payment is made to the county in installments, the state’s portion must be remitted to the State Treasurer by the county treasurer on a monthly basis.

The fiftysix percent of the onehundreddollar fee prescribed in Section 821310(11)(a) remitted to the State Treasurer must be deposited as follows:

(1)31.52 percent to the state general fund;

(2)7.23 percent to the Department of Mental Health to be used exclusively for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts within the department’s addiction center facilities;

(3)4.47 percent to the State Office of Victim Assistance under the South Carolina Victim’s Compensation FundDepartment of Crime Victims Services; and

(4)26.78 percent to the Defense of Indigents Per Capita Fund, administered by the Commission on Indigent Defense, which shall then distribute these funds on December thirtyfirst and on June thirtieth of each year to South Carolina organizations that are grantees of the Legal Services Corporation, in amounts proportionate to each recipient’s share of the state’s poverty population; and

(5)30.00 percent to the South Carolina Judicial Department.”

SECTION6.Section 141205 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

“Section 141205.Except as provided in Sections 1715260, 341190, 501150, 501170, and 5654160, on January 1, 1995, fiftysix percent of all costs, fees, fines, penalties, forfeitures, and other revenues generated by the circuit courts and the family courts, except the seventyonehundred dollar filing fee prescribed in Section 821310(11)(a) must be remitted to the county in which the proceeding is instituted and fortyfour percent of the revenues must be delivered to the county treasurer to be remitted monthly by the fifteenth day of each month to the State Treasurer on forms and in a manner prescribed by him. When a payment is made to the county in installments, the state’s portion must be remitted to the State Treasurer by the County Treasurer on a monthly basis. The fortyfour percent remitted to the State Treasurer must be deposited as follows:

(1)72.93 percent to the general fund;

(2)16.73 percent to the Department of Mental Health to be used exclusively for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts within the department’s addiction center facilities;

(3)10.34 percent to the State Office of Victim Assistance under the South Carolina Victim’s Compensation FundDepartment of Crime Victim Services.

In anycircuit, summary, or family court, when sentencing a person convicted of an offense which has proximately caused physical injury or death to the victim, the court may order the defendant to pay a restitution charge commensurate with the offense committed, not to exceed ten thousand dollars, to the Victim’sVictims’ Compensation Fund.”

SECTION7.Section 141206 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 107 of 2001, is further amended to read:

“Section 141206.(A) Beginning January 1, 1995, and continuously after that date, a person who is convicted of, pleads guilty or nolo contendere to, or forfeits bond for an offense tried in general sessions court must pay an amount equal to one hundred percent of the fine imposed as an assessment. This assessment must be paid to the clerk of court in the county in which the criminal judgment is rendered for remittance to the State Treasurer by the county treasurer. The assessment is based upon that portion of the fine that is not suspended and assessments must not be waived, reduced, or suspended.

(B)The county treasurer must remit thirtyeight percent of the revenue generated by the assessment imposed in subsection (A) to the county to be used for the purposes set forth in subsection (D) and remit the balance of the assessment revenue to the State Treasurer on a monthly basis by the fifteenth day of each month and make reports on a form and in a manner prescribed by the State Treasurer. Assessments paid in installments must be remitted as received.

(C)The State Treasurer shall deposit the assessments received as follows:

(1)47.17 percent for programs established pursuant to Chapter 21 of Title 24 and the Shock Incarceration Program as provided in Article 13, Chapter 13 of Title 24;

(2)16.52 percent to the Department of Public Safety program of training in the fields of law enforcement and criminal justice;

(3).5 percent to the Department of Public Safety to defray the cost of erecting and maintaining the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame. When funds collected pursuant to this item exceed the necessary costs and expenses of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame operation and maintenance as determined by the Department of Public Safety, the department may retain the surplus funds for use in its law enforcement training programs;

(4)16.21 percent to the Office of Indigent Defense for the defense of indigents;

(5)13.26 percent forto the State Office of Victim AssistanceDepartment of Crime Victim Services;

(6)5.34 percent to the general fund;

(7)1.0 percent to the Attorney General’s Office for a fund to provide support for counties involved in complex criminal litigation. For the purposes of this item, ‘complex criminal litigation’ means criminal cases in which the State is seeking the death penalty and has served notice as required by law upon the defendant’s counsel, and the county involved has expended more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars for a particular case in direct support of operating the court of general sessions and for prosecution related expenses. The Attorney General shall develop guidelines for determining what expenses are reimbursable from the fund and shall approve all disbursements from the fund. Funds must be paid to a county for all expenditures authorized for reimbursement under this item except for the first one hundred thousand dollars the county expended in satisfying the requirements for reimbursement from the fund; however, money disbursed from this fund must be disbursed on a ‘first received, first paid’ basis. When revenue in the fund reaches five hundred thousand dollars, all revenue in excess of five hundred thousand dollars must be credited to the general fund of the State. Unexpended revenue in the fund at the end of the fiscal year carries over and may be expended in the next fiscal year.

(D)The revenue retained by the county under subsection (B) must be used for the provision of services for the victims of crime including those required by law. These funds must be appropriated for the exclusive purpose of providing victim services as required by Article 15 of Title 16; specifically, those service requirements that are imposed on local law enforcement, local detention facilities, prosecutors, and the summary courts. First priority must be given to those victims’ assistance programs which are required by Article 15 of Title 16 and second priority must be given to programs which expand victims’ services beyond those required by Article 15 of Title 16. All unused funds must be carried forward from year to year and used exclusively for the provision of services for victims of crime. All unused funds must be separately identified in the governmental entity’s adopted budget as funds unused and carried forward from previous years. Revenue retained and expended by the counties must be reported to the Department of Crime Victim Services for its review and in a manner prescribed by the department thirty days following the adoption of the county’s budget. Any amendments to that budget also must be reported for review.

(E)To ensure that fines and assessments imposed pursuant to this section and Section 141209(A) are properly collected and remitted to the State Treasurer, the annual independent external audit required to be performed for each county pursuant to Section 49150 must include a review of the accounting controls over the collection, reporting, and distribution of fines and assessments from the point of collection to the point of distribution and a supplementary schedule detailing all fines and assessments collected by the clerk of court for the court of general sessions, the amount remitted to the county treasurer, and the amount remitted to the State Treasurer.

(1)To the extent that records are made available in the format determined pursuant to subsection (E)(4), the supplementary schedule must include the following elements:

(a)all fines collected by the clerk of court for the court of general sessions;

(b)all assessments collected by the clerk of court for the court of general sessions;

(c)the amount of fines retained by the county treasurer;

(d)the amount of assessments retained by the county treasurer;

(e)the amount of fines and assessments remitted to the State Treasurer pursuant to this section; and

(f)the total funds, by source, allocated to victim services activities, how those funds were expended, and any balances carried forward.

(2)The supplementary schedule must be included in the external auditor’s report by an “in relation to” paragraph as required by generally accepted auditing standards when information accompanies the basic financial statements in auditor submitted documents.

(3)Within thirty days of issuance of the audited financial statement, the county must submit to the State Treasurer and the Department of Crime Victim Services a copy of the audited financial statement and a statement of the actual costcosts associated with the preparation of the supplemental schedule required in this subsection. Upon submission to the State Treasurer, the county may retain and pay from the fines and assessments collected pursuant to this section the actual expense charged by the external auditor for the preparation of the supplemental schedule required in this subsection, not to exceed one thousand dollars each year.

(4)The clerk of court and county treasurer shall keep records of fines and assessments required to be reviewed pursuant to this subsection in the format determined by the county council and make those records available for review.”

SECTION8.Section 141207 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 107 of 2001, is further amended to read:

“Section 141207.(A)Beginning January 1, 1995, and continuously after that date, a person who is convicted of, pleads guilty or nolo contendere to, or forfeits bond for an offense tried in magistrate’smagistrates court must pay an amount equal to 100one hundred percent of the fine imposed as an assessment. This assessment must be paid to the magistrate and deposited as required by Section 22170 in the county in which the criminal judgment is rendered for remittance to the State Treasurer by the county treasurer. The assessment is based upon that portion of the fine that is not suspended and assessments must not be waived, reduced, or suspended.

(B)The county treasurer must remit 12twelve percent of the revenue generated by the assessment imposed in subsection (A) to the county to be used for the purposes set forth in subsection (D) and remit the balance of the assessment revenue to the State Treasurer on a monthly basis by the fifteenth day of each month and make reports on a form and in a manner prescribed by the State Treasurer. Assessments paid in installments must be remitted as received.

(C)The State Treasurer shall deposit the assessments as follows:

(1)35.12 percent for programs established pursuant to Chapter 21 of Title 24 and the Shock Incarceration Program as provided in Article 13, Chapter 13 of Title 24;

(2)22.49 percent to the Department of Public Safety program of training in the fields of law enforcement and criminal justice;

(3).65 percent to the Department of Public Safety to defray the cost of erecting and maintaining the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame. When funds collected pursuant to this item exceed the necessary costs and expenses of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame operation and maintenance as determined by the Department of Public Safety, the department may retain the surplus funds for use in its law enforcement training programs;

(4)20.42 percent forto the State Office of Victim AssistanceDepartment of Crime Victims Services;

(5)8.94 percent to the general fund;

(6)11.38 percent to the Office of Indigent Defense for the defense of indigents;

(7)1.0 percent to the Attorney General’s Office for a fund to provide support for counties involved in complex criminal litigation. For the purposes of this item, ‘complex criminal litigation’ means criminal cases in which the State is seeking the death penalty and has served notice as required by law upon the defendant’s counsel and the county involved has expended more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars for a particular case in direct support of operating the court of general sessions and for prosecutionrelated expenses. The Attorney General shall develop guidelines for determining what expenses are reimbursable from the fund and shall approve all disbursements from the fund. Funds must be paid to a county for all expenditures authorized for reimbursement under this item except for the first one hundred thousand dollars the county expended in satisfying the requirements for reimbursement from the fund; however, money disbursed from this fund must be disbursed on a ‘first received, first paid’ basis. When revenue in the fund reaches five hundred thousand dollars, all revenue in excess of five hundred thousand dollars must be credited to the general fund of the State. Unexpended revenue in the fund at the end of the fiscal year carries over and may be expended in the next fiscal year.

(E)To ensure that fines and assessments imposed pursuant to this section and Section 141209(A) are properly collected and remitted to the State Treasurer, the annual independent external audit required to be performed for each county pursuant to Section 49150 must include a review of the accounting controls over the collection, reporting, and distribution of fines and assessments from the point of collection to the point of distribution and a supplementary schedule detailing all fines and assessments collected by the magistrate’smagistrates court of that county, the amount remitted to the county treasurer, and the amount remitted to the State Treasurer.