87R4360 AJZ-D
By: Neave, Button, Collier, H.B. No. 2462
González of El Paso, Meyer, et al.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a forensic medical examination occurring with respect
to a sexual assault reported to a law enforcement agency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 56A.251, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to conform to Section 3, Chapter 1037 (H.B. 616), Acts of
the 86th Legislature, Regular Session, 2019, and is further amended
to read as follows:
Art. 56A.251. REQUEST FOR FORENSIC MEDICAL EXAMINATION.
(a) If [Except as provided by Subsection (b), if] a sexual assault
is reported to a law enforcement agency within 120 [96] hours after
the assault, the law enforcement agency, with the consent of the
victim of the reported [alleged] assault, 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 for use in the investigation or
prosecution of the offense.
(b) [A law enforcement agency may decline to request a
forensic medical examination under Subsection (a) only if:
[(1) the person reporting the sexual assault has made
one or more false reports of sexual assault to any law enforcement
agency; and
[(2) there is no other evidence to corroborate the
current allegations of sexual assault.
[(c)] If a sexual assault is not reported within the period
described by Subsection (a), on receiving the consent described by
Subsection (a), [that subsection] a law enforcement agency may
request a forensic medical examination of a victim of a reported [an
alleged] sexual assault for use in the investigation or prosecution
of the offense if:
(1) based on the circumstances of the reported
assault, the agency believes a forensic medical examination would
further that investigation or prosecution; or
(2) after a medical evaluation by a physician, sexual
assault examiner, or sexual assault nurse examiner, the physician
or examiner notifies the agency that a forensic medical examination
should be conducted [as considered appropriate by the agency].
(c) If a sexual assault is reported to a law enforcement
agency as provided by Subsection (a) or (b), the law enforcement
agency shall document, in the form and manner required by the
attorney general, whether the agency requested a forensic medical
examination. The law enforcement agency shall:
(1) provide the documentation of the agency's decision
regarding a request for a forensic medical examination to:
(A) the health care facility and the physician,
sexual assault examiner, or sexual assault nurse examiner, as
applicable, who provides services to the victim that are related to
the sexual assault; and
(B) the victim or the person who consented to the
forensic medical examination on behalf of the victim; and
(2) maintain the documentation of the agency's
decision in accordance with the agency's record retention policies.
SECTION 2. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 87th Legislature, Regular Session, 2021,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a sexual assault reported on or after the effective date of this
Act. A sexual assault reported before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the sexual assault
was reported, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.