Resolution of claims against the state for wrongful imprisonment of innocent persons, exempting from taxation certain amounts an individual receives from the claims board or legislature, and making appropriations

If a timely request for a hearing is filed, or if the division concludes that it cannot determine the petitioner's eligibility for compensation without a hearing, the division must hold a hearing within 60 days after the petition is filed. If a timely request for a hearing is not filed and the division is able to determine that the petitioner is eligible for compensation without a hearing, the division must decide the matter without a hearing, except that the division must afford a petitioner an opportunity for a hearing before denying compensation to the petitioner. If a hearing is held, the bill allows the petitioner to be represented by a public defender. If a hearing is held, the division appoints a hearing examiner to hear the petition. If no hearing is held, the division decides the matter without a hearing. The hearing examiner makes findings and issues a decision concerning whether the petitioner is entitled to compensation. The findings must be based upon the preponderance of evidence (a lesser evidentiary standard than clear and convincing evidence). The petitioner need not show that he or she did not by his or her act or failure to act contribute to bring about the conviction and imprisonment for which he or she seeks compensation. If the hearing examiner's finding is in the affirmative, the examiner must award compensation to the petitioner in an amount that the examiner considers to be adequate and the board must pay that amount to the petitioner.

Under the bill, the amount of compensation is fixed at a rate of $50,000 per year and there is no limit on the total amount of an award. The $50,000 annual rate is subject to annual adjustment based upon changes in the cost of living. In addition, each award must include reimbursement for reasonable, actual attorney fees, together with all costs and disbursements incurred by the petitioner in his or her defense, post-conviction, and compensation proceedings and all fees, surcharges, and restitution paid by the petitioner as a result of his or her arrest and imprisonment.

The bill provides that no person may file a claim for wrongful imprisonment as a result of his or her conviction for a crime if the person is imprisoned as the result of his or her conviction for a felony in any court of this state arising from the same course of conduct that resulted in conviction for the crime of which the person claims to be innocent if the person does not claim to be innocent of that felony.

Under current law, the Group Insurance Board, attached to the Department of Employee Trust Funds, contracts on behalf of the state for the purpose of providing health care coverage to state employees. This bill permits individuals who receive compensation from the state for wrongful imprisonment to elect, for up to ten years, health care coverage under plans offered by the Group Insurance Board to state employees beginning on January 1, 2013. Under the bill, these individuals would be required to pay the same health insurance premium amounts that state employees are required to pay, with the balance of the premium cost paid by the state.

Under the bill, if a person's conviction for a crime is reversed, set aside, or vacated on grounds consistent with the person's innocence, and the person is ordered released from prison by a trial court, the court is required to grant the person, upon request, temporary financial assistance, transition assistance from the department of corrections (DOC) and local aid agencies, and sealing of all records related to his or her conviction. If the person pursues a successful petition for wrongful imprisonment, any temporary financial assistance he or she received upon release from prison is subtracted from any compensation he or she receives for wrongful imprisonment.

The bill also exempts from taxation the payments that an individual, or his or her estate, receives from the claims board, or from the state legislature as a result of claims board action.

The bill initially applies with respect to claims filed by persons who are released on or after January 1, 2006, from imprisonment for crimes of which they claim to be innocent.

Because this bill relates to an exemption from state or local taxes, it may be referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Tax Exemptions for a report to be printed as an appendix to the bill.