California Victim Compensation Board: mental health services: reimbursement.

Existing law establishes the California Victim Compensation Board within the Government Operations Agency and authorizes the board to grant certain compensation, paid from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for pecuniary loss when the board determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation. Existing law authorizes reimbursement, subject to certain limits, for outpatient psychiatric, psychological, or other mental health counseling-related expenses incurred by the victim, or derivative victim, as a direct result of the crime, subject to specific conditions. These provisions include reimbursement for expenses for psychiatric, psychological, or other mental health counseling-related services, which may be reimbursed only if the services were provided by certain individuals, including an individual who is licensed in California to provide those services or who is properly supervised by a person who is licensed in California to provide those services, as prescribed. This bill would expand the application of that provision authorizing reimbursement for psychiatric, psychological, or other mental health counseling-related services by certain individuals to instead specify that those services may be reimbursed only if the services were provided by a person who is licensed in the state in which the victim lives to provide those services, or who is properly supervised by a person who is licensed in the state in which the victim lives to provide those services, as prescribed. By expanding the category of individuals who are eligible for reimbursement for expenditures from a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.