W000172
Wednesday, November 07, 2001 11:05 AM
911 Relief
Before we "divide up the money", a baseline must be established as to who
gets the money. A good example may be how the Native Americans do it with
their gambling monies. Each member of the tribe receives the same amount,
man, woman and child regardless of age, status or present income level. For
some this could be a huge windfall, for others a huge cut in pay. Some may
see this is unfair but in this case I think we must treat each other
equally, not necessarily fairly. The money should be divided equally among
all surviving family members. Who is a family member?
1. A spouse presently living with the victim and living as a family unit.
2. A child under the age of 18 presently living with the victim and living
as a family unit.
3. What if the victim was 55 and there is still a child living at home at
age 30? No they should not get money regardless of handicap/disability etc.
If they are 30 and able to work and are not, they need to find work. If
disabled/handicapped etc there are already programs to support these people.
However, if the victim was able to claim the person as a dependent on their
taxes then yes, they should get the money.
4. What if the victims child is 20 and in college? Yes as long as the victim
was able to claim them as a dependent on taxes. If not, no.
5. Divorced spouse that was receiving alimony should receive the same amount
as every other man, woman and child. A divorced spouse that was not
receiving alimony was obviously recognized by the courts as not required to
receive the victims' money and therefore we should support previous court
decisions.
6. Child support from victims. Again, obviously the courts had previously
determined that the victims money was required to support the child(ren) and
therefore each child supported by the victim should receive the same as
everyone else.
7. Foster child(ren)/adopted Child(ren). If any of these children were
previously being supported by the victim then they should receive the same
amount of money as everyone else. Again, courts have already decided these
children were being supported by the victim and the support should continue.
Follow the laws already in place as to whether or not these children of any
age are supported or not.
a. Foster children over the age of 18 should not receive money. All federal
money ends for foster children at age 18 so should this support.
b. Adopted children should be treated the same as biological children.
8. What about spouses and children that were in the process of a divorce but
now won't finish? Since they were still legally married to the victim the
spouse and children should receive the same as everyone else. The only
other option is to finish the trials without the spouse which I believe is
unfair simply because the victim clearly cannot defend themselves.
9. What if s/he was unmarried with no children supporting his widowed mother
and handicapped sister? Proof of this would be on his/her tax returns from
previous years and those family members should be able to receive the same
amount of money as everyone else. If they were not claimed as a dependent
on the victims taxes then no.
10. What if s/he had a significant other (SO) opposite or same sex? Since
this is a federal fund we should follow federal laws. Although some States
recognize SO's the fed does not.
11. What if s/he was unmarried with no children supporting a
handicapped/laid-off cousin/friend/grandchild/niece/nephew/etc? These are
not considered immediate family and I don't believe they should be included.
Furthermore, although they would probably receive much less than the victim
was providing there are already existing programs to help support these
people. But again, if these any of these people were claimed on tax returns
then yes.
12. What about a spouse and child(ren) living with the victim who also had
additional family members such as grandma or grandpa or cousin, should they
receive the same as other family members living in the same house? No.
Although they were part of the family unit, as stated above, they would be
eligible for other aid such as SSI.
Net of all this is simple. If existing marriage, divorce, support (child,
foster, alimony, etc) laws recognize someone was being supported by a
victim, they get money. If existing law does not, they get none.
We will call all those who should get money, "Beneficiaries".
Now that we know who gets the money I see the funds utilized in 4 ways.
Before we start though lets give each man, woman and child the same amount
of money and get the fed out. We do not want to create another huge
bureaucracy whereby the money must be managed for many years. Let the
private industry and existing agencies do it. However we should make out
the checks in 4 different ways.
1. For each beneficiary over the age of 18 they should receive a check and
be able to do with it as they please. Hopefully the younger beneficiaries
will invest it in a college education, future investments, etc. But the fed
should not manage other people's money.
2. For each beneficiary under the age of 18 the guardian should be required
to put the money in a trust of their choosing as long as the guardian does
not have access to the money. The trust should disperse the money in 2
ways.
a. The guardian should receive 5% of the money each year to help support the
child. If the guardian decides they don't need all of that money or even
some of that money the money remains in the trust for future use by the
child. If they need more, they should not be allowed to get it.
b. The rest of the money should remain in the trust until the child is 18.
At 18 the child can do with the money as they please, leave it alone for
college, invest it elsewhere, take the money and run, etc.
3. Short/long-term loans. There are already agencies in place to provide
short-term and long-term loans to the "handicapped/disabled/victims/etc.
Some of the victims beneficiaries will need loans during their period of
transition. Another small percentage, like 5% should be given to these
existing agencies for them to manage the loans of the beneficiaries. Grants
should not be considered as this would turn into a way for some to get more
money than others. This would not be treating everyone equally.
4. What about spouses that were 100% supported by the victim and need to be
trained and prepared to enter the workforce? There are already job training
programs available for "unskilled workers" and the spouses of the victims
should be given priority to enter these programs. If there needs to be
additional money for these programs to help train the spouses then a very
small percentage, like 5%, should be given to existing programs and let them
administer getting the victims spouses trained.
We do not want to set up victim's scholarships for the future as this would
create additional bureaucracy to help manage the money. If the private
sector chooses to do this let them do it but the fed should not be involved.
I also agree with the present thinking regarding anyone going the lawsuit
route. If a beneficiary chooses to sue instead of taking the money they
should be disqualified from receiving any money. Unfortunately I think this
decision will be challenged in the near future and this decision will be
reversed. There is already existing law allowing both lawsuit and "grant
money" to the same person. Therefore if there is a 5th place to put the
money it should remain in a special fund inside the government for a period
of 5 years until these suits can take their course.
Individual Comment