Bill seeks to make it easier for those injured by police to receive compensation

California could be the first state to compensate people involved in a violent encounter with police even if the claimants were committing a crime and the officers were not found to have used excessive force, under a bill being considered by the Senate Public Safety Committee today.

Compensation could not be denied on the grounds that at injured claimant was in the act of committing a crime or failed to reasonably cooperate with police under Assembly Bill 767, authored by Assemblymember Tim Grayson, D-Concord. The bill, if passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor by September, would immediately become law, allowing those injured in violent encounters, and their survivors, to seek compensation for funeral costs, medical bills, counseling and other services regardless of whether the officers were found to be at fault.

Under current law, people seeking compensation for injury by police officers are required to provide corroboration of their damages through a police report or other law enforcement documentation to receive a payout from the California Victim Compensation Board.

AB 767 would expand the types of encounters for which compensation can be paid and would allow victims to provide other forms of documentation other than a police report to prove their damages.

“AB 767 is California’s opportunity to demonstrate that we value the lives and experiences of all victims, particularly Black and brown victims of police violence,” Grayson said in a press conference Thursday.

State Controller Betty Yee, who is a member of the California Victim Compensation Board, said police reports are often not determinative of whether a crime has occurred, presenting an unnecessary hurdle for victims to prove they should be compensated.

“There are many other forms of documentation that can help the board make this determination with respect to compensation,” Yee said. “Because of the current law, there are really inherent inequities in the system that exist, and survivors of police violence are forced to find other means to pay for medical costs, and in the worst case, for funeral expenses.”

Yee added that victim payouts would not be a judicial award. Attorneys could continue filing lawsuits seeking compensatory relief for those involved in violent encounters with the police, or their survivors. “This bill does not preclude either the victim or their families their day in court,” she said.

The bill is largely modeled after a policy San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin implemented in his office in June.

“Victims and their families should not be turned to GoFundMe accounts to cover funeral, burial and medical expenses,” Boudin, who is a sponsor of AB 767, said Thursday. “This is a necessary critical step towards protecting victims of police violence, as well as their families, from the financial and emotional devastation that this sort of harmful violence can inflict.”

Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, a former prosecutor in the San Francisco DA’s office, said AB 767 is about “changing our preconceived notions of who is a victim and who is a survivor of a crime, and who is worthy of assistance from the state.”