(A) An award may be made for:

(1) reasonable and customary charges as periodically determined by the board for medical services, including mental health counseling, required and rendered as a direct result of the injury on which the claim is based, as long as these services are rendered by a licensed professional. Payment for mental health counseling is limited to the number of sessions during a one hundred eighty-day period beginning on the date of the first counseling session or twenty sessions, whichever is greater. Upon recommendation of the director, the board may allow victims who max out the current benefit of twenty mental health counseling sessions to request up to an additional twenty sessions for a total of forty sessions;

(2) reasonable and customary charges as periodically determined by the board for other services required and rendered as a direct result of the injury upon which the claim is based, as long as the service is rendered by a professional or paraprofessional who holds a license, certificate, or other documentary evidence of specific training and qualification in a field of service which, by regulation, the board recognizes as a service required by and beneficial to crime victims;

(3) loss of earning or support, provided that:

(a) claimant is deprived of that income for at least two consecutive weeks;

(b) the loss is not reimbursable;

(c) the amount may not exceed the maximum rate provided in Section 42-1-50;

(d) conditions (a), (b), and (c) may be waived in severe hardship cases;

(4) reasonable and customary charges for employment-oriented retraining or rehabilitative services incurred as a direct result of the injury; and

(5) burial expenses not to exceed four thousand dollars.

(B) If there are two or more family members as specified in Section 16-3-1210(c) who are entitled to an award as a result of the death of a person, the award must be apportioned among the claimants; however, the amount awarded for burial expenses must be paid to or on behalf of the person who has paid or is responsible for that expense.

(C) The aggregate of award to and on behalf of victims may not exceed fifteen thousand dollars unless the Crime Victim Advisory Board, by two-thirds vote, and the director concur that extraordinary circumstances exist. In this case, the award may not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.

(D) An award may be made only if and to the extent that the amount of compensable loss exceeds one hundred dollars; however, this limitation may be waived in the interest of justice and must be waived upon a showing that the claimant is at least sixty-five years old.

(E) A previously decided award may be reopened for the purpose of increasing the compensation previously awarded, subject to the maximum provided in this article. In this case the Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, Department of Crime Victim Compensation shall send immediately to the claimant a copy of the notice changing the award. This review may not affect the award as regards any monies paid, and the review may not be made after eighteen months from the date of the last payment of compensation pursuant to an award under this article unless the director or deputy director determines there is a need to reopen the case as specified in Section 16-3-1120(B)(3).

HISTORY: 1982 Act No. 455, Section 2; 1984 Act No. 489, Section 1; 1986 Act No. 540, Part II, Sections 27B, 2C; 1988 Act No. 406; 1990 Act No. 480, Section 1; 1991 Act No. 144, Section 1; 1995 Act No. 83, Section 12; 1996 Act No. 458, Part II, Section 51A; 2008 Act No. 271, Section 1, eff January 1, 2009; 2017 Act No. 96 (S.289), Section 5.G, eff July 1, 2017.

Effect of Amendment

2017 Act No. 96, Pt. II, Section 5.G, in (C), substituted "Victim" for "Victim's"; in (E), substituted "Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, Department of Crime Victim Compensation" for "State Office of Victim Assistance", inserted "deputy director", and substituted "16-3-1120(B)(3)" for "16-3-1120(4)".