Sec. 4. 5 MRSA §3360-C, sub-§1, ¶B, as enacted by PL 1991, c. 806, §3, is amended to read:

B. The claim was filed with the board within one year 3 years of the occurrence of the injury or compensable loss, or within 60 days of the discovery of injury or compensable loss, whichever is later.

Sec. 5. 5 MRSA §3360-D, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1999, c. 360, §6 and affected by §9, is further amended by adding at the end a new paragraph to read:

Upon request of the board, health care providers and health plans and insurers or other persons who pay or discharge the costs of health care through settlements, judgments, insurance, public benefits or charity care are required to submit directly to the board, pursuant to the claimant's authorization as provided in the signed application for compensation, any information that is required to support a claimant's application or that is necessary to process a claim for payment.

Sec. 6. 17-A MRSA §1330-B is enacted to read:

§1330-B.__Restitution for benefit of victim

When compensation is awarded from the Victims' Compensation Fund pursuant to Title 5, chapter 316-A, the amount of any restitution ordered to be paid to or for the benefit of the victim and collected by the agency specified in section 1326-A as part of a sentence imposed must be paid by the agency collecting the restitution in an amount not to exceed the amount of the payments from the fund, directly to the fund if, when added to the payments from the fund, the restitution exceeds the victim's actual loss.

SUMMARY

This bill makes the following changes to the laws regarding the Victims' Compensation Fund:

1. It expands the definition of family or household member to include other individuals "who bear an equally significant relationship to the victim";