LAWS OF MARYLAND

(b)  Any award made pursuant to this article shall be made
in accordance with the schedule of benefits and degree of
disability as specified in Article 101, § 36 (as it existed on
July 1, 1974), § 37, and other applicable sections of the Code,
excluding § 66 entitled "Subsequent Injury Fund". However, the
term "average weekly wages" as applied to determine the award in
accordance with § 36 of Article 101, does not include tips,
gratuities and wages that are undeclared on the claimant's State
or federal income tax returns in the applicable years. If a
claimant does not have "average weekly wages" so as to qualify
under the formula in § 36 of Article 101, the award shall be in
an amount equal to the arithmetic average between the maximum and
minimum awards listed in the applicable portion of that section.

(c)  If there are two or more persons entitled to an award
as a result of the death of a person which is the direct result
of a crime, the award shall be apportioned among the claimants.

(d)  Any award made pursuant to this article shall be
reduced by the amount of any payments received or to be received
as a result of the injury (1) from or on behalf of the person who
committed the crime, (2) from any other public or private source,
including an award of the Workmen's Compensation Commission under
Article 101, (3) as an emergency award pursuant to § 11 of this
article.

(e)  In determining the amount of an award, the [Board or]
Board members, [as the case may be,] shall determine whether,
because of his conduct, the victim of such crime contributed to
the infliction of his injury, and the [Board or] Board [member]
MEMBERS shall reduce the amount of the award or reject the claim
altogether, in accordance with such determination; provided,
however, that the [Board or] Board [member] MEMBERS[, as the case
may be,] may disregard for this purpose the responsibility of the
victim for his own injury where the record shows that such
responsibility was attributable to efforts by the victim to
prevent a crime or an attempted crime from occurring in his
presence or to apprehend a person who had committed a crime in
his presence or had, in fact, committed a felony.

(f)  (1) If the Board [or Board member, as the case may be,
finds] MEMBERS FIND that the claimant will not suffer serious
financial hardship, as a result of the loss of earnings or
support and the out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of
the injury, if not granted financial assistance pursuant to this
article to meet the loss of earnings, support, or out-of-pocket
expenses, the [Board or] Board members shall deny an award. In
determining the serious financial hardship, the [Board or] Board
[member]MEMBERS shall consider all of the financial resources of
the claimant. Unless total dependency is established, a family
is considered to be partially dependent on a mother with whom
they reside without regard to actual earnings.

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Ch. 250