Most programs process claims through a staff centralized in one office in
the state capital, but a few states have branch or regional offices or make use
of locally based individuals in other agencies to perform preliminary work on
applications, such as gathering documents.
Typically, states request and analyze police reports to confirm that a crime
took place and to determine whether the victim was involved in any
illegal or contributory activity when victimized. Information from service
providers like hospitals, doctors, counselors, and funeral homes, as well as
employers if work loss is claimed, forms the basis for benefit determinations.
Decision-making authority varies from state to state, with about a third of
the states using part-time boards or commissions to determine eligibility and
awards, and the rest authorizing full-time administrative staff (usually program
directors) to make determinations. In three court-based programs, judges or
court officials decide claims.
Nye Frank on 23 Apr 09Dormant Commerce Clause From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The "Dormant" Commerce Clause, also known as the "Negative" Commerce Clause, is a legal doctrine that courts in the United States have inferred from the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The Commerce Clause expressly grants Congress the power to enact legislation that affects interstate commerce. The idea behind the Dormant Commerce Clause is that this grant of power implies a negative converse - a restriction prohibiting a state from passing legislation that improperly burdens or discriminates against interstate commerce. The restriction is self-executing and applies even in the absence of a conflicting federal statute. The premise of the doctrine is that the U.S. Constitution reserves for the United States Congress at least some degree of exclusive power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes" (Article I, § 8). Therefore, individual states are limited in their ability to legislate on such matters. The Dormant Commerce Clause does not expressly exist in the text of the United States Constitution. It is, rather, a doctrine deduced by the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts from the actual Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Justice O'Connor has written that: The central rationale for the rule against discrimination is to prohibit state or municipal laws whose object is local economic protectionism, laws that would excite those jealousies and retaliatory measures the Constitution was designed to prevent. See The Federalist No. 22, pp. 143-145 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (A. Hamilton); Madison, Vices of the Political System of the United States, in 2 Writings of James Madison 362-363 (G. Hunt ed. 1901). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormant_Commerce_Clause
