By: McReynolds (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire) H.B. No. 2916
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2009;
May 4, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 22, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 22, 2009, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to allowing certain claimants to file an application under
the Crime Victims' Compensation Act.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 56.37, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) For a claim that is based on criminally injurious
conduct in violation of Chapter 19, Penal Code, the claimant must
file an application not later than three years after the date the
identity of the victim is established by a law enforcement agency.
SECTION 2. Article 56.61, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 56.61. COMPENSATION FOR CERTAIN CRIMINALLY INJURIOUS
CONDUCT PROHIBITED; EXCEPTION. (a) Except as provided by
Subsection (b), the [The] attorney general may not award
compensation for pecuniary [economic] loss arising from criminally
injurious conduct that occurred before January 1, 1980.
(b) The attorney general may award compensation for
pecuniary loss arising from criminally injurious conduct that
occurred before January 1, 1980, if:
(1) the conduct was in violation of Chapter 19, Penal
Code;
(2) the identity of the victim is established by a law
enforcement agency on or after January 1, 2009, and the pecuniary
loss was incurred with respect to the victim's funeral or burial on
or after that date; and
(3) the claimant files the application for
compensation within the limitations period provided by Article
56.37(e).
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to criminally injurious conduct committed against a victim whose
identity is established by a law enforcement agency on or after
January 1, 2009. Criminally injurious conduct committed against a
victim whose identity is established by a law enforcement agency
before January 1, 2009, is covered by the law in effect on the date
the victim's identity was established, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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