SB 755

Abstract

Compensation for wrongful incarceration. Modifies the formula for compensating wrongfully incarcerated persons to equal $55,000 per year of incarceration, adjusted for inflation, changes the amount of compensation that may be paid out as a lump sum to equal 25 percent of the total award with the remainder to be paid out as an annuity with a term of 10 years, provides that the General Assembly may pay to the wrongfully incarcerated person the amount of court costs and other charges incurred to receive the compensation, and allows a wrongfully incarcerated person who submitted an Alford plea to receive compensation for such wrongful incarceration. The bill also provides an income tax subtraction for any compensation awarded to a wrongfully incarcerated person. This bill is identical to HB 397.

Compensation for wrongful incarceration. Modifies the formula for compensating wrongfully incarcerated persons to equal $55,000 per year of incarceration, adjusted for inflation, changes the amount of compensation that may be paid out as a lump sum to equal 25 percent of the total award with the remainder to be paid out as an annuity with a term of 10 years, provides that the General Assembly may pay to the wrongfully incarcerated person the amount of court costs and other charges incurred to receive the compensation, and allows a wrongfully incarcerated person who submitted an Alford plea to receive compensation for such wrongful incarceration. The bill also provides an income tax subtraction for any compensation awarded to a wrongfully incarcerated person. This bill is identical to HB 397.

Compensation for wrongful incarceration. Restructures how a wrongfully incarcerated person is compensated. Under current law, a person receives 90 percent of per capita income for each year he was incarcerated. Under the bill, compensation is linked to median household income, and a person receives additional amounts if he was sentenced to death, served on parole, or was required to register as a sex offender. The bill directs the compensation to be awarded to the person as a lump sum, rather than, as under current law, awarding 20 percent as a lump sum and using the remaining 80 percent to purchase an annuity. The bill creates an income tax subtraction starting in taxable year 2022 for compensation received under the bill and enables the estate or personal representative of a decedent who was wrongfully incarcerated to seek compensation. The bill eliminates provisions of current law that require a person to forfeit unpaid compensation if the person is subsequently convicted. The bill removes the following requirements for a person to receive compensation for wrongful incarceration: (i) that the person shall have entered a final plea of not guilty, or, regardless of the plea, the person incarcerated was convicted of a Class 1 felony, a Class 2 felony, or any felony for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for life and (ii) that the person incarcerated did not by any act or omission on his part intentionally contribute to his conviction for the felony for which he was incarcerated.