The West Virginia Senate will soon be considering legislation that would stop the West Virginia Crime Victims Compensation Fund from being used to clean up methamphetamine labs. The Senate's action follows criticisms that meth lab cleanup claims have depleted the Crime Victims fund due to an increase in hidden labs throughout the state.

The Crime Victims Compensation Fund was originally established in 1981 to help those who were victims of violent crime. As meth labs began to accumulate throughout West Virginia six years ago, the state legislature passed a law to permit the fund to reimburse property owners for cleanup costs.

West Virginia is the only state that so compensates property owners this way, and the Crime Victims fund has paid out $1.2 million to clean up meth labs, including $849,146 just last year, after law enforcement officials seized 533 labs, up from 288 in 2012. The payments went to landlords who lived out of state was well as those in West Virginia; property owners in Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio combined to receive $100,000.

In addition to property owners, the Crime Victims Compensation Fund has paid $668,000 to companies that specialize in cleaning up meth labs. To pay for the increase in claims, the state Court of Claims has tapped a reserve account that was initially set up to pay for catastrophic events such as a terrorist attack or a school shooting.