Austin – The new laws aimed at improving the compensation fund for the victims of the troubled crime in Texas – which have been established through a series of investigations in KXAN – has become officially valid.
Nearly three years ago, KXAN has revealed its sales, accumulation and delays for months for violent crime victims trying to get help. Victims say that new changes are a long -awaited improvement of a system that can be for many lifeline.
The CVC Fund, which is run by the Texas Public Prosecutor’s Office, is the last resort for crime victims that are compensated for things such as medical expenses and treatment. Money mostly comes from federal grants and court fees.
“It was a battle”
Terry Rayeger told us last August, sitting on her kitchen table in Austin-two and a half years later, after she left her domination barely able to work with a pile of medical bills: “I fled through the air and then landed on the sidewalk.”
On January 13, 2022, Reger was traveling in the parking lot at the grocery store in North Austin when it was thrown on the floor. The suspect admitted many wallets in central Texas, according to a registered recognition of a video, and was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2023.
“I was diagnosed with post -trauma, anxiety and depression,” I explained.
In January 2024, two years after her attack, she requested Reger, a real estate agent working for their own account, to obtain help from the state CVC program. The largest part of its claims was rejected twice before it was finally approved last April, the records appear.
“It was really frustrated,” she said in a recent virtual interview abroad. “And when you cannot make anyone respond to your calls and questions, as you know, for a person with a painful experience, this is just extracting.”
Re. The CVC fund has paid $ 50,000, which is the maximum amount permitted by law, according to a letter it received in July.
“I got the maximum,” she said. “It helped me a lot. I mean, it was a battle and I feel very lucky, first and foremost, I faced this and finally came out on the winning side of this.”
The data did not reflect the performance of “correctly”
After our investigations revealed a long delay, a Average of 90 -day standard target In order for the victims to start receiving payments, according to the draft general credits law that enters into force on September 1. A separate goal is set for one week for hospitals to be paid for criminal sexual assault exams.
Other changes include the ability to issue emergency payments under it HB 3745 If the request is likely to be approved and the victim will suffer, “he will suffer from an unjustified hardship if the immediate economic relief is not obtained.”
Another solution is directly related to the problem of transparency that KXAN first revealed in 2023. The country previously collected data on the recovery schedule for victims – which has average of approximately eight months of treatment in 2024 – with compensation for the rape set paid directly to hospitals – which often occurred within days.
In January, the Prosecutor’s Office admitted that the metrics used did not accurately reflect the performance of the program.
“If anyone was sitting around Austin, KXAN, who loves to talk about the magnificence of the prosecutor’s office in combining these two numbers, which we must report,” Josh Renault, Deputy Prosecutor of Criminal Justice, told the legislators. “This is why we are suggested separating these.”
Answers on behalf of the victims of the crime.
For more than a year, KXAN questions about the program were silent. In January, we tried to ask Public Prosecutor Ken Pixon personally about the fund’s problems but was ignored.
“Can you communicate with our press office?” One of the employees said while walking away.
“Our”, the investigation correspondent KXAN Matt Grant answered. “We have continued for a year. We haven’t heard again.”
“We are just trying to obtain answers on behalf of the crime victims,” Grant added.
KXan again arrived at the Prosecutor’s Office to comment on this report. We did not hear again.
As of August, performance standards in CVC – which have been obtained through the request of public records – appear – victim payments and rape group tests in a surprisingly similar scheme for those previously published by KXAN.
Waiting times for the first payment go down, with an average of about three and a half months, according to the latest data.
Meanwhile, Re. However, hoping that other victims can find relief faster than you can.
She wants to see CVC is doing a better job in treating claims than people who work for their own account along with “supporting victims” in general.
“You only need to accomplish things faster, more efficient and more effective,” said Re. “Bring this entire system to the twenty -first century.”