SENATE BILL 252
By Haile
HOUSE BILL 314
By Littleton
HB0314
000793
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section
29-13-106, relative to criminal injuries
compensation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 29-13-106, is amended by deleting
subsection (h) and substituting:
(h)
(1) It is the intent of the general assembly that the maximum award
pursuant to subsection (e) equal no less than one hundred five percent (105%) of
the national average of the maximum compensation award provided by the fifty
(50) states within the United States, the District of Columbia, and the United
States Virgin Islands.
(2) Beginning January 1, 2026, and every three (3) years thereafter, the
state treasurer shall compare the maximum award limit for this program with the
average of the maximum award limits of the fifty (50) states within the United
States, the District of Columbia, and the United States Virgin Islands. If any of
the states or territories do not have a maximum award limit that is ascertainable
or set in a manner similar to that of Tennessee, then the state treasurer shall
eliminate that state or territory from comparison.
(3) If the state treasurer determines that the maximum is less than one
hundred five percent (105%) of the national average, then the state treasurer
shall adjust the maximum award to an amount equal to one hundred five percent
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(105%) of the national average; provided, however, that the maximum award
must be rounded up to the nearest one hundred dollars ($100).
(4) Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, the state treasurer shall
make an adjustment to the maximum award amount by publishing the adjusted
maximum award on the department of treasury website no later than March 1 of
the comparison year. An adjustment made pursuant to this section is effective
on July 1 of the comparison year, and applies to claims filed for crimes occurring
on or after that date. The determination and publication of the adjusted
maximum award by the state treasurer is not a rule as defined in ยง 4-5-102, and
such actions of the state treasurer are exempt from the Uniform Administrative
Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.