LINCOLN- Two bills have been introduced relating to Nebraska’s Crime Victim’s Reparations program during the ongoing legislative session. Omaha Sen. Wendy DeBoer, a Democrat, introduced a bill (LB757) based on findings in a survey of 18 programs that help victims across the state. The bill lengthens the deadline for reporting the crime to police from three to five days, extends the filing deadline for minors and lets the CVR committee consider applications that miss the deadline for “good cause.”

The bill received a priority designation from Speaker John Arch, a Republican from La Vista, who has 25 such designations to dole out per session. The Judiciary Committee approved it unanimously, sending it to the full Legislature for consideration. LB315, from Omaha Sen. John Fredrickson, a Democrat, would ban medical providers from referring victims of sexual assault, domestic assault, trafficking or child abuse to collections.

Victims are routinely billed for medical costs because they don’t have insurance, they haven’t used it or it didn’t cover certain services, said Katie Welsh, legal director at the Women’s Center for Advancement, at the bill’s public hearing. Fredrickson has now proposed LB315 as an amendment to DeBoer’s LB757, which he said was done in agreement with Arch and DeBoer.

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