Fixes to Texas' Crime Victims' Fund take effect following KXAN investigations
AUSTIN (KXAN) — New laws aimed at improving Texas’ troubled Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund — sparked by a series of KXAN investigations — are now officially in effect.
For nearly three years, KXAN has uncovered turnover, backlogs and months-long delays for victims of violent crimes trying to get help. The new changes, victims say, are a long-awaited improvement to a system that for many can be a lifeline.
The CVC fund, managed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, is a last resort for crime victims to be reimbursed for things like medical expenses and therapy. The money mostly comes from federal grants and court fees.
‘It was a battle’
“I was flying through the air and then landed down on the pavement,” Terry Reager told us last August, sitting at her kitchen table in Austin — two-and-a-half years after a robbery left her barely able to work and with a pile of medical bills.
On Jan. 13, 2022, Reager was walking through the parking lot of a north Austin grocery store when she was thrown to the ground and her purse stolen. The suspect admitted to multiple purse-snatchings in Central Texas, according to a videotaped confession, and was sentenced to a 23-year prison sentence in 2023.
“I was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression,” she explained.
In January 2024, two years after her attack, Reager, a self-employed real estate agent, asked the state’s CVC program for help. The bulk of her claims were denied twice before finally being approved this past April, records show.
“It was really frustrating,” she said in a recent virtual interview while out-of-state. “And when you can’t get anybody to respond to your calls and questions, you know, for somebody who’s gone through a traumatizing experience, this is just retraumatizing.”
Reager said she received her full payment in June — a year-and-a-half after she first applied. The CVC fund reimbursed her $50,000, the maximum amount allowed by law, according to a letter she received in July.
“I got the maximum,” she said. “It helped me a lot. I mean, it was a battle and I feel very lucky, first of all, that I got through this and finally came out on the winning side of this.”
Data didn’t ‘properly reflect’ performance
After our investigations uncovered lengthy delays, a benchmark average goal of 90 days for victims to start receiving payments was set, according to the general appropriations bill that takes effect Sept. 1. A separate goal sets one week for hospitals to be reimbursed for forensic sexual assault exams.
Other changes include the ability to issue emergency payments under HB 3745 if it “appears likely” the application will be approved and a victim “will suffer undue hardship if immediate economic relief is not obtained.”
Another fix is directly related to a transparency problem KXAN first revealed in 2023. The state had previously combined data on the timeline for reimbursements to victims — which averaged nearly eight months to process in 2024 — with rape kit exam reimbursements paid directly to hospitals — which often happened within days.
In January, the attorney general’s office admitted the metrics used did not accurately reflect the program’s performance.
“If anyone who’s been sitting around Austin has seen the KXAN reporter who likes to talk about how terrible the Office of Attorney General is for combining these two numbers, which is what we are required to report,” Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Josh Reno told lawmakers. “Which, is why we are proposing to separate those out.”
‘Answers on behalf of crime victims’
For more than a year, KXAN’s questions about the program have been met with silence. In January, we tried to ask Attorney General Ken Paxton in person about problems with the fund but were ignored.
“Can you reach out to our press office?” a staff member said as they walked away.
“We have,” responded KXAN investigative reporter Matt Grant. “We’ve reached out for a year. We haven’t heard back.”
“We’re just trying to get answers on behalf of crime victims,” Grant added.
KXAN again reached out to the attorney general’s office for comment for this report. We did not hear back.
As of August, the CVC’s latest performance metrics — obtained through a public records request — show victim payments and rape kit exam reimbursements are now being separated in a chart strikingly similar to the ones KXAN previously published.
Wait times for first payment are trending down, averaging around three-and-a-half months, according to the latest data.
Reager, meanwhile, said she’s “not convinced” the new changes will help. Still, she hopes other victims will be able find relief faster than she could.
She wants to see the CVC program do a better job of processing claims from people who are self-employed along with “supporting the victims” overall.
“Just get things done faster and more efficiently and more effectively,” Reager said. “Bring this whole system into the 21st century.”
