Determination of claims

§ 627. Determination of claims. 1. The office shall determine claims in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the director. Such rules and regulations must provide for:

(a) written notification to an applying victim of their right to representation by counsel, as well as their potential eligibility for an award of attorney's fees pursuant to subdivision one of section six hundred twenty-six of this article;

(b) administrative procedures regarding the intake and initial processing of claims, including mandatory timelines for the initiation of investigation of a properly filed claim;

(c) the investigation and determination of claims regardless of whether the alleged criminal has been arrested, charged, apprehended or prosecuted for or convicted of any crime based upon the same incident, or has been acquitted, or found not guilty of the crime in question owing to criminal irresponsibility or other legal exemption;

(d) the rebuttable presumption that a child reported missing for a time period exceeding seven days is a victim of a crime;

(e) the generation of a written decision for each properly filed claim, and written notice to the claimant of the written decision and their right to a copy of such a decision, as well as any rights to appeal that the claimant may have of the decision and a projected date of payment in the case of an award to the claimant;

(f) expedited determination of claims with respect to a livery operator within thirty days of the date upon which the claim was accepted for filing, as well as standards for awards of loss of earnings or support granted pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated in accordance with the provisions of this subdivision and subdivision three of section six hundred thirty-one of this article. Each award for loss of earnings pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated in accordance with this subdivision made with respect to a claim involving a livery operator assault victim shall be for such period of time as the office determines that the livery operator assault victim is unable to work and has lost earnings as a result of such assault, in an amount not to exceed twenty thousand dollars. Such award shall be distributed in increments of five hundred dollars per week. Each award for loss of support pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated in accordance with this subdivision made with respect to a claim involving a livery operator homicide victim shall be in the amount of twenty thousand dollars, distributed in increments of five hundred dollars per week; and

(g) provisions for any claimant to submit an additional claim for any loss of earnings or support in excess of the amount awarded pursuant to rules and regulations in accordance with paragraph (f) of this subdivision, or an additional claim for any other award pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated in accordance with this article, in each case pursuant to and in accordance with the other provisions of this article or any rules and regulations promulgated in accordance thereof and subject to any applicable maximum award limitations contained in this article.

2. The claimant may, within thirty days after receipt of the decision of the office regarding a claim, make an application in writing to the director of the office for reconsideration of such decision. The director, or his or her designee, shall consider such applications in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the director and may affirm or modify the decision. The decision of the director, or his or her designee, shall become the final determination of the office regarding the claim.