Bill > HB2443

This bill establishes the Child Victim Recovery Fund in Pennsylvania's State Treasury, creating a dedicated financial resource supported by new court fees to aid minors who are victims of specific sexual offenses. Under the legislation, courts must assess a Child Victim Recovery Fee on defendants convicted of certain covered sexual offenses or those placed into pretrial diversionary programs like Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, with tiered fee amounts set at $1,000 for felonies, $400 for misdemeanors, and $250 for alternative dispositions. The bill explicitly protects crime victims by ensuring these fees do not reduce or take priority over court-ordered financial restitution, and it mandates that courts evaluate a defendant's financial ability to pay before imposing the fee, prohibiting undue hardship for indigent individuals. The collected monies will be remitted to the State Treasury and managed by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, an agency responsible for state criminal justice planning and funding, which will distribute the money through noncompetitive annual grants to children's advocacy centers. These specialized centers, which coordinate multidisciplinary teams to support abused children, can use the grant funding for services such as forensic interviews, medical evaluations, trauma-focused mental health care, and victim advocacy. Finally, the commission is tasked with overseeing grant compliance, keeping administrative costs under five percent, and submitting an annual performance and financial report to the General Assembly.