Thursday, January 27, 2000
Ohio House OKs shift in crime victim payments
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — Supervision of the state's Crime Victims Reparation Fund would move to the attorney general's office under a bill the House approved Wednesday.
The bill takes jurisdiction for granting the claims from the Ohio Court of Claims to the attorney general's office, which already handles investigations of the claims. Backers say the move should cut the two-year average wait for claims in half.
The 95-0 vote that sent it to the Senate was preceded by political maneuvering. Majority Republicans removed a Democratic amendment that had narrowly passed and replaced it with a GOP one.
The amendment from Rep. Peter Lawson Jones, D-Shaker Heights, would have allowed victims of some felonies committed before the fund was created in 1977 to apply for benefits up to one year after the new bill would take effect.
Rep. Jeff Jacobson, a suburban Dayton Republican, said the legislature should not revisit what the original bill's sponsors created.
The House took out Mr. Jones' amendment and replaced it with one offered by Mr. Jacobson that would allow all applicants to get a percentage of their claims should they exceed the $500,000 appropriation.
Also Wednesday:
• The House concurred with the Senate to increase penalties for long-distance phone companies that switch customers' service without notice. It goes to Gov. Bob Taft.
• The Senate approved a $2,000 tax deduction for parents contributing to the Ohio College Savings Program. The bill goes to Mr. Taft.
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