Request By:
Ms. Cattie Lou Miller
Executive Director
Crime Victims Compensation Board
113 E. Third Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Martin Glazer, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested this office to advise you, by opinion, whether the Crime Victims Compensation Board can promulgate a regulation extending to one year the period for claim filing for all crime victim compensation claimants.
As you pointed out, KRS 346.060(2) provides:
"A claim must be filed by the claimant not later than ninety (90) days after the occurrence of the criminally injurious conduct upon which such claim is based, or not later than ninety (90) days after the death of the victim, provided, however, that upon good cause shown, the board may extend the time for filing for a period not exceeding one (1) year after such occurrence. "
In short, the legislature has determined that claims should be filed in 90 days, but upon good cause shown (whatever that means) the Board may in each individual case extend the time up to one year.
If the Board were to extend all cases to one year by a blanket regulation, it would be exceeding the authority granted to it by the legislature, because it would be extending cases involving good cause and cases involving bad or no cause.
Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that the Board, under the present statutory scheme, may not by blanket regulation extend the filing time for all claims to one year.