victim compensation; unclaimed property
HB 2061 directs the Arizona Department of Revenue (DOR) to deposit unclaimed victim restitution funds into the victim compensation and assistance fund. HB 2061 has a retroactive effective date of July 18, 2000.
The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission is responsible for the administration of the victim compensations and assistance fund. Currently, the victim compensation fund consists of monies collected from assessments of working prisoner’s gross compensation as well as community supervision fees.
A court may order a criminal defendant to pay restitution to the crime victim pursuant to ARS section 13-603. The defendant pays the restitution to the court, which in turn distributes the monies to the victim. If the court is unable to locate the victim and the victim restitution monies go unclaimed for five years, the monies are transmitted to DOR. These unclaimed monies are then distributed among various funds, including the state general fund.
For FY 2001, $3.9 Million was appropriated from the Victim Compensation and Assistance fund to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission. The fund is projected to have a balance of $705,000 at the end of FY 2001.