By: Dale, et al. (Senate Sponsor - RodrÃguez) H.B. No. 1446
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 13, 2015;
May 15, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 22, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 22, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to reimbursement of certain medical costs for victims of
certain sex offenses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Article 56.06, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
Art. 56.06. FORENSIC MEDICAL EXAMINATION FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT
VICTIM WHO HAS REPORTED ASSAULT; COSTS.
SECTION 2. Article 56.06, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) and adding
Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(a) If a sexual assault is reported to a law enforcement
agency within 96 hours of the assault, the law enforcement agency,
with the consent of the victim, a person authorized to act on behalf
of the victim, or an employee of the Department of Family and
Protective Services, shall request a forensic medical examination
of the victim of the alleged assault for use in the investigation or
prosecution of the offense. A law enforcement agency may decline to
request a forensic medical examination under this subsection only
if the person reporting the sexual assault has made one or more
false reports of sexual assault to any law enforcement agency and if
there is no other evidence to corroborate the current allegations
of sexual assault.
(b) If a sexual assault is not reported within the period
described by Subsection (a), on receiving the consent described by
that subsection the law enforcement agency may request a forensic
medical examination of a victim of an alleged sexual assault as
considered appropriate by the agency.
(c) A law enforcement agency that requests a forensic
medical examination of a victim of an alleged sexual assault for use
in the investigation or prosecution of the offense shall pay all
costs of the examination. On application to the attorney general,
the law enforcement agency is entitled to be reimbursed for the
reasonable costs of that examination if the examination was
performed by a physician or by a sexual assault examiner or sexual
assault nurse examiner, as defined by Section 420.003, Government
Code.
(d) A law enforcement agency or prosecuting attorney's
office may pay all costs related to the testimony of a licensed
health care professional in a criminal proceeding regarding the
results of the forensic medical examination or manner in which it
was performed.
(f) The attorney general may make a payment to or on behalf
of an individual for the reasonable costs incurred for medical care
provided in accordance with Section 323.004, Health and Safety
Code.
SECTION 3. Article 56.065, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (k) to read as follows:
(k) The attorney general may make a payment to or on behalf
of an individual for the reasonable costs incurred for medical care
provided in accordance with Section 323.004, Health and Safety
Code.
SECTION 4. Article 56.54(k), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(k) The attorney general may use the compensation to victims
of crime fund to:
(1) reimburse a law enforcement agency for the
reasonable costs of a forensic medical examination that are
incurred by the agency under Article 56.06 or 56.065; and
(2) make a payment to or on behalf of an individual for
the reasonable costs incurred for medical care provided under
Article 56.06 or 56.065 in accordance with Section 323.004, Health
and Safety Code.
SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to payments made for medical care provided on or after the effective
date of this Act. Payments made for medical care provided before
the effective date of this Act are governed by the law in effect on
the date the care was provided, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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