California Victim Compensation Board: victim restitution: violence peer counseling.

Existing law provides for the indemnification of victims of crime and commits the administration of these provisions to the California Victim Compensation Board. Existing law provides for the payment of victim's compensation from the Restitution Fund and provides that moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated, as specified. Existing law allows the board, until January 1, 2019, to grant reimbursement for outpatient psychiatric, psychological, or other mental health counseling-related expenses incurred by the victim or derivative victim, including peer counseling services provided by violence peer counseling services provided by a service organization for the victims of violent crimes. Under existing law, a violence peer counselor for purposes of these provisions must meet specified criteria, including that he or she has completed a training program aimed at preparing an individual who was once a mental health services consumer to use his or her life experience with mental health treatment, to promote the mental health recovery of other mental health services consumers. Existing law requires a licensed marriage and family therapist, a licensed educational psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker, or licensed professional clinical counselor supervising peer violence counseling services to be employed by the same service organization as the violence peer counselor. This bill would continue these provisions indefinitely. By extending the use of continuously appropriated funds, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would delete the requirement that a violence peer counselor complete a training program requiring him or her to have once been a mental health services consumer. The bill would delete the requirement that the supervising licensed mental health professional be employed by the same service organization as the violence peer counselor. Existing law prohibits payments for peer counseling services provided by a rape crisis center from exceeding $15 for each hour of services provided and limits in-person counseling for a period not to exceed 10 weeks. This bill would instead require the board to provide reimbursement for peer counseling services provided by a rape crisis center or a violence peer counseling organization and would require the rate to be no less than one-half of the reimbursement rate set by the board for individual or family counseling services provided by mental health interns. By expanding the amounts for which a continuously appropriated fund may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law prohibits a person who is convicted of a violent felony, as defined, from being granted compensation until he or she has been discharged from probation or has been released from a correctional institution and has been discharged from parole, postrelease community supervision, or mandatory supervision. This bill would, notwithstanding the above provision, make a person who has been the victim of a violent crime eligible to receive reimbursement for mental health treatment, including violence peer counseling services, before he or she has been discharged from parole, postrelease community supervision, or mandatory supervision. By expanding the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.