Current through September 21, 2024
(a) No award shall
exceed the maximum amount approved by the Wyoming legislature and stated in the
victims compensation statue.
(b)
Medical Expenses. Medical expenses include those incurred from the reasonable
and necessary costs of all medical and dental services, dental and prosthetic
devices, services rendered by any method of healing recognized by the law of
this state, and mental health counseling and care.
(i) Compensable medical expenses include:
(A) those incurred from the date of the
injury to the decision date;
(B) in
the event the application is considered more than one year after the date of
the crime, compensable medical expenses shall be limited to those medical
expenses incurred one year after the crime date;
(C) no compensation shall be paid for future
medical expenses.
(c) Mental health counseling and care means
the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of an individual's mental and emotional
functioning that is required to alleviate psychological trauma resulting from
compensable crime.
(i) Mental health
counseling shall be provided by a certified or licensed practitioner of the
healing arts acting within the scope of his or her license or
certificate.
(ii) Counseling
services provided to an eligible victim by a counselor whose position is
funded, in whole or in part, or whose position is used as match to a federal
Victims of Crime Act funds, shall not be eligible for compensation
payment.
(iii) Compensation for
family counseling shall be payable only for sessions where the focus of the
session is to assist the victim in recovery from a compensable crime.
(d) Loss of earnings, loss of
future earnings, and loss of dependents support. In order to be compensated for
loss of earnings or loss of support the victim must have been employed at the
time of the crime that caused the death or personal injury.
(i) If the victim was self employed at the
time of injury or death, the loss of actual earnings shall be determined by the
income reported on the previous year's federal income tax return or the current
year's income based on current financial records or any other documentation
that enables the Division to determine the income for the six months
immediately proceeding the date of the injury. The loss of earnings is computed
at current federal minimum wage.
(ii) If the sole employment of the victim at
the time of the injury or death was limited to performing duties and
responsibilities of a homemaker, the award shall be determined by documentation
of actual expenses for cost of services or hours worked at federal minimum
wage, whichever is less.
(iii) All
loss of earning and support is computed at the federal minimum wage times the
number of scheduled hours worked or lost.
(iii) Loss of support shall be awarded to the
dependents of a homicide or disabled victims and verified and computed in the
same manner as loss of earnings.
(e) Funeral/ Burial Expenses. An award for
reasonable funeral and burial expenses shall not exceed the maximum limit set
forth in the Wyoming Statue addressing crime victims compensation.
(f) Clothing and Bedding. A reasonable
replacement value for clothing and bedding taken for evidentiary
purposes.
(g) Collateral Sources.
In determining the amount of an award to an applicant, the Division shall
consider the amount of any payments received or to be received from a
collateral source.
(i) The term
collateral source includes but is not limited to:
(A) amounts received from the offender,
including restitution;
(B) proceeds
of any contract of insurance payable to the Victim Services Division a contract
providing hospital and other health care services or benefits;
(C) any governmental entity or government
program.
