SESSION OF 2024
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2781
As Amended by House Committee of the Whole

Brief*
HB 2781, as amended, would allow compensation from
the Crime Victims Compensation Board (Board) to be
awarded for criminally injurious conduct. The bill would also
increase the amount that can be transferred from the Crime
Victims Compensation Fund (CVCF) to the Crime Victims
Assistance Fund (CVAF) each fiscal year.

Victim Compensation
The bill would expand compensation beyond mental
health counseling for certain crime victims by removing a set
of requirements concerning mental health counseling.
Additionally, the bill would allow the Board to award
compensation when the Board determines failing to
compensate the victim would be a severe injustice.
Under current law, the Board determines whether to
award compensation based on consideration of five factors.
The bill would allow the Board to consider other factors as
deemed by the Board in making their determination, and look
at the totality of the circumstances based on those six factors.
Current law states compensation is limited to $400 per
week or actual loss, whichever is less. The bill would increase
the maximum weekly compensation to $800. The bill would
provide compensation for work loss for a victim of human
trafficking or aggravated human trafficking in an amount not
less than $350 per week and not more than $800 per week.
____________________
*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
Reporting Criminally Injurious Conduct
The bill would allow compensation claims to be awarded
if the victim obtains a forensic medical examination within
seven days of the occurrence of criminally injurious conduct.
Current law prevents awarding any claim unless the conduct
was reported to law enforcement within 72 hours after its
occurrence or the Board finds good cause for failing to report
within that time period.
Under continuing law, persons under the age of 16 who
were the victims of certain sexual or human trafficking crimes
must file an application for compensation within 2 years of
reporting the incident to law enforcement. Persons who are
victims of certain sexually violent crimes may be subject to
various application deadlines between either two years or ten
years of a specific event.
The bill would change the requirement that claims of
persons for any other criminally injurious conduct be filed with
the Board within two years of the events leading to the claim
to require application within five years of the injury or death
upon which the claim is based. In instances where more than
one deadline would apply to a victim (such as a victim of a
sexually violent crime), the bill would allow the victim to file by
the longest deadline that applies.

Increased Transfer to the Crime Victims Assistance Fund
The bill would increase the authorized transfer amount
from the CVCF to the CVAF from $300,000 to $500,000 each
fiscal year.

Technical Amendments
The bill would make technical amendments, including an
amendment to update a reference to a provision within the
bill.

2- 2781
Background
The bill was introduced by the House Committee on
Judiciary at the request of a representative of the Office of the
Attorney General.
[Note: The Crime Victims Compensation program was
established in 1978 to help victims of violent crime pay for
unexpected expenses, such as medical treatment, mental
health counseling, lost wages, dependent support, and
funeral expenses.]

House Committee on Judiciary
In the House Committee hearing on February 15, 2024,
proponent testimony was provided by representatives of the
Office of the Attorney General, the Kansas Coalition Against
Sexual and Domestic Violence, and the Board. The
proponents generally stated the bill would provide more
services and adequate compensation to crime victims and
also stabilize the CVCF.
Written-only proponent testimony was provided by a
representative of The Crisis Center.
No other testimony was provided.
The House Committee amended the bill to correct a
reference to a provision within the bill and to remove the
requirement that a claim for certain crimes be denied if the
claim was not filed with the Board within two years after the
injury or death upon which the claim is based.
On February 22, 2024, the bill was withdrawn from the
House Calendar and referred to the House Committee on
Appropriations. The bill was then rereferred to the House
Committee on Judiciary on February 23, 2024.


3- 2781
 On March 4, 2024, following discussion on the bill, the
House Committee amended the bill by reverting its provisions
to the language, as introduced, regarding the two-year filing
deadline. The Committee then amended the bill to increase
the application deadline for victims of certain crimes to five
years. The Committee also added a provision specifying that
victims subject to multiple deadlines would be able to apply
under the longest of the applicable deadlines.

House Committee of the Whole
The House Committee of the Whole made a technical
amendment to conform the bill’s language with amendments
agreed to in the House Committee on Judiciary on March 4,
2024.

Fiscal Information
According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
the Budget on the bill, as introduced, the Office of the
Attorney General states that it cannot estimate changes in
compensation the Board would award to victims, but any
additional expenditures could be financed with existing
revenues. The Board also receives 75.0 percent federal
matching dollars for state funds expended for payments
made to victims; therefore, the federal funds would increase
as state expenses increase. However, the agency cannot
estimate the fiscal effect of the bill’s provisions.
The Office of Judicial Administration states that
enactment of the bill would not have a fiscal effect on any
operating costs. Any fiscal effect associated with the bill is not
reflected in The FY 2025 Governor’s Budget Report.
Crime Victims Compensation Board; criminal conduct; Crime Victims Compensation
Fund; Crime Victims Assistance Fund


4- 2781


Statutes affected:
As introduced: 75-752, 74-7305, 21-6422
As Amended by House Committee: 75-752, 74-7305, 21-6422
As Further Amended by House Committee: 75-752, 74-7305, 21-6422
{As Amended by House Committee of the Whole}: 75-752, 74-7305, 21-6422
Enrolled: 75-752, 74-7305, 21-6422