The director of the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission said the commission has nearly cleared a backlog of claims that led to protests by nonprofit groups and the first direct legislative appropriations to the commission in its four-decade history.
Everette Johnson, the executive director of the commission, said at a meeting Thursday that it had completely caught up on a backlog that had run to 1,900 cases when he took over in 2023.
“We just drew a line in the sand and said, ‘We’ll bring the retirees to handle the old stuff, and then our current staff will take care of anything new coming in and that way we stay up to date,'” he said.
Johnson said during the period of backlogs, the commission was averaging anywhere between 100 to 120 applications a month being filed on top of the backlogged claims. Now, he said, there are about 260 cases remaining, all due to filers having a felony conviction waiting to be adjudicated.
Muaath Al-Khattab, a Montgomery hub community organizer for Faith in Action Alabama, which worked with applicants to process claims, said Thursday the organization is happy the case backlog has been reduced.
“We like to try as much as we can to keep a good working relationship with the commission and hold them accountable, but also be supportive of what they’ve done going forward to help victims,” he said.
The Alabama Legislature created the commission in 1984 to provide financial aid to victims of crime and their families. The commission offers payments for funerals, emergencies and medical or counseling costs.
But the commission struggled to meet applications as revenue from fines and fees, its chief source of income, began falling. Applicants found themselves waiting a year or more for responses to applications. After protests from applicants and groups working with them, the Alabama Legislature in 2023 directly appropriated $1.5 million to the commission to help it clear the backlog. The governor’s office allocated another $1 million to it.
The commission has been receiving fewer applications than typical, Johnson said Thursday. Between May and June there were only about 70 applications submitted, he said.
“Our applications have decreased this past year, which is troublesome, but that’s not in our control,” Johnson said.
Johnson said there was no particular reason for the lack of applications submitted and said the commission does victim service outreach to let victims know they can receive compensation.
“We see violent crime happening in our communities every day around the state, so we’re hoping that we’re able to make contact with these victims to make sure they know help is available to them,” Johnson said.
The new funds will also go toward increasing payout caps for victims, which Johnson said were decreased due to funding cuts in previous years.
“We’re not completely there, but we’ll be able to hopefully release some more money to help victims that we’ve stymied because of the lack of funding,” he said.