By: Kent H.B. No. 4663
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the rights of victims of fraudulent financial schemes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 56.34 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
is amended to read as follows:
Art. 56.34. COMPENSATION. (a) The attorney general shall
award compensation for pecuniary loss arising from criminally
injurious conduct if the attorney general is satisfied by a
preponderance of the evidence that the requirements of this
subchapter are met.
(b) The attorney general, shall establish whether, as a
direct result of criminally injurious conduct, a claimant or victim
suffered personal injury or death or suffered severe financial
hardship from a fraudulent financial scheme that resulted in a
pecuniary loss for which the claimant or victim is not compensated
from a collateral source.
SECTION 2. Chapter 56.42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
is amended as follows by adding subsection (f):
(f) the limits of awards payable to victims of a fraudulent
financial scheme shall not be less than the losses to the victim
from that fraudulent financial scheme.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.