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Editorial: Benefit cap allows state to help more crime victims
Violent crime has been on the decline in Washington since 2005, yet claims under the state’s Crime Victims’ Compensation program just keep rising.
There’s a simple explanation. The program was created to be there for people who didn’t have sufficient insurance or other resources to cover medical, burial, income-loss and other consequences of being targeted by criminals. As the recession took away jobs and stunted government revenues, workplace benefits disappeared and public safety nets were tattered, putting more demand on the state’s resource of last resort.
Even in the best of times, it was never intended to cover every last penny. Even so, by 2005, the Department of Labor and Industries was asking for more funding to help meet the demand. And by 2010, when the program cost $57 million and was threatened with insolvency, L&I stopped asking the Legislature for more funding and pleaded instead for a benefit cut.
Lawmakers complied, lowering the limit on benefits that could be paid for any one claim from $190,000 to $50,000. It was the fiscally responsible thing to do, but compassion is a powerful influence. The belt-tightening was supposed to be temporary, and the lid was to rise to $150,000 on July 1, 2015. This year’s Legislature did some streamlining but didn’t touch the benefit cap’s scheduled expiration.
Gov. Chris Gregoire wisely used her veto power to fix that oversight and retain the caps indefinitely. A performance audit by the state auditor’s office has recommended not only that the caps be preserved but also that the director of Labor and Industries be empowered to reduce benefits in the future if claim levels overwhelm limited resources.
These suggestions are both sound and sensitive. The auditor’s office calculates they – and a package of procedural and administrative reforms – will spare the state more than $9 million a biennium, based on projections through 2017. That may be a pittance relative to the state budget, but it will enable the program to help more victims through difficult times.
When misfortune befalls some citizens, society has an interest in lending a hand, but not the capacity to make all victims whole. To strike the appropriate balance, the Legislature needs to impose reasonable caps and stick to them.
As Gregoire explained in her veto message, “only temporarily reducing these benefits will only temporarily strengthen the Crime Victims’ Compensation program.”