Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB250 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New	Differences
1	1	88R15317 CJD-F
2	2	By: González of El Paso, Goldman, Cook, H.B. No. 250
3	3	Collier, et al.
4	4	Substitute the following for H.B. No. 250:
5	5	By: Dutton C.S.H.B. No. 250
6	6
7	7
8	8	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
9	9	AN ACT
10	10	relating to crime victims' compensation.
11	11	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	12	SECTION 1. Articles 56B.003(2), (6), (7), and (10), Code of
13	13	Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
14	14	(2) "Claimant" means any of the following individuals,
15	15	other than a service provider, who is entitled to file or has filed
16	16	a claim for compensation under this chapter:
17	17	(A) an authorized individual acting on behalf of
18	18	a victim;
19	19	(B) an individual who legally assumes the
20	20	obligation or who voluntarily pays medical or burial expenses of a
21	21	victim incurred as a result of the criminally injurious conduct of
22	22	another;
23	23	(C) a dependent of a victim who died as a result
24	24	of the criminally injurious conduct;
25	25	(D) a [an immediate] family member or [a]
26	26	household member of a victim who, as a result of the criminally
27	27	injurious conduct:
28	28	(i) requires psychiatric care or
29	29	counseling;
30	30	(ii) incurs expenses for traveling to and
31	31	attending a deceased victim's funeral; or
32	32	(iii) suffers wage loss from bereavement
33	33	leave taken in connection with the death of the victim; or
34	34	(E) an authorized individual acting on behalf of
35	35	a child described by Paragraph (C) or (D).
36	36	(6) "Family violence" has the meaning assigned by
37	37	Section 71.004 [71.004(1)], Family Code.
38	38	(7) "Household member" means an individual who[:
39	39	[(A) is related by consanguinity or affinity to
40	40	the victim; and
41	41	[(B)] resided in the same permanent household as
42	42	the victim at the time that the criminally injurious conduct
43	43	occurred.
44	44	(10) "Pecuniary loss" means the amount of the expense
45	45	reasonably and necessarily incurred as a result of personal injury
46	46	or death for:
47	47	(A) medical, hospital, nursing, or psychiatric
48	48	care or counseling, or physical therapy;
49	49	(B) actual loss of past earnings and anticipated
50	50	loss of future earnings and necessary travel expenses because of:
51	51	(i) a disability resulting from the
52	52	personal injury;
53	53	(ii) the receipt of medically indicated
54	54	services related to the disability; or
55	55	(iii) participation in or attendance at
56	56	investigative, prosecutorial, or judicial processes or any
57	57	postconviction or postadjudication proceeding relating to
58	58	criminally injurious conduct;
59	59	(C) care of a child or dependent, including
60	60	specialized care for a child who is a victim;
61	61	(D) funeral and burial expenses, including, for a
62	62	[an immediate] family member or [a] household member of the victim,
63	63	the necessary expenses of traveling to and attending the funeral;
64	64	(E) loss of support to a dependent, consistent
65	65	with Article 56B.057(b)(5);
66	66	(F) reasonable and necessary costs of cleaning
67	67	the crime scene;
68	68	(G) reasonable replacement costs for clothing,
69	69	bedding, or property of the victim seized as evidence or rendered
70	70	unusable as a result of the criminal investigation;
71	71	(H) reasonable and necessary costs for
72	72	relocation and housing rental assistance payments as provided by
73	73	Articles [Article] 56B.106(c) and (c-1);
74	74	(I) for a [an immediate] family member or [a]
75	75	household member of a deceased victim, bereavement leave [of not
76	76	more than 10 work days]; and
77	77	(J) reasonable and necessary costs of traveling
78	78	to and from a place of execution to witness the execution, including
79	79	[one night's] lodging near the place where the execution is
80	80	conducted.
81	81	SECTION 2. Subdivision (8), Article 56B.003, Code of
82	82	Criminal Procedure, is redesignated as Subdivision (5-a), Article
83	83	56B.003, Code of Criminal Procedure, and amended to read as
84	84	follows:
85	85	(5-a) "Family [(8) "Immediate family] member" means an
86	86	individual who is related to a victim [within the second degree] by
87	87	consanguinity or affinity.
88	88	SECTION 3. Article 56B.057(d), Code of Criminal Procedure,
89	89	is amended to read as follows:
90	90	(d) Except as provided by rules adopted by the attorney
91	91	general to prevent the unjust enrichment of an offender, the
92	92	attorney general may not deny an award otherwise payable to a
93	93	claimant or victim because the claimant or victim:
94	94	(1) is a [an immediate] family member of the offender;
95	95	or
96	96	(2) resides in the same household as the offender.
97	97	SECTION 4. Article 56B.106, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
98	98	amended by amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsections
99	99	(c-1), (c-2), and (c-3) to read as follows:
100	100	(c) A victim of stalking, family violence, or trafficking of
101	101	persons, a victim of sexual assault who is assaulted in the victim's
102	102	place of residence, or a child who is a victim of a murder attempt in
103	103	the child's place of residence may receive compensation for the
104	104	following [a one-time assistance payment in an amount not to
105	105	exceed]:
106	106	(1) [$2,000 to be used for] relocation expenses,
107	107	including expenses for rental deposit, utility connections,
108	108	expenses relating to moving belongings, motor vehicle mileage
109	109	expenses, temporary or emergency lodging, and for an out-of-state
110	110	move, expenses for transportation, lodging, and meals; and
111	111	(2) [$1,800 to be used for] housing rental expenses.
112	112	(c-1) A victim other than a victim described by Subsection
113	113	(c), a dependent of any victim, or a family member or household
114	114	member of any victim may receive compensation for the following:
115	115	(1) relocation expenses, including expenses for
116	116	rental deposit, utility connections, expenses relating to moving
117	117	belongings, motor vehicle mileage expenses, temporary or emergency
118	118	lodging, and for an out-of-state move, expenses for transportation,
119	119	lodging, and meals; and
120	120	(2) housing rental expenses.
121	121	(c-2) Unless the attorney general determines that there is
122	122	an extraordinary health or safety need for compensation to be made
123	123	to more than two households, the attorney general may, for each
124	124	application based on criminally injurious conduct giving rise to
125	125	the need for relocation or housing rental expenses, award
126	126	compensation for relocation or housing rental expenses under
127	127	Subsection (c) or (c-1) to the households of no more than:
128	128	(1) one victim and one claimant; or
129	129	(2) two claimants, if the victim is deceased.
130	130	(c-3) The attorney general by rule may establish a
131	131	limitation on the amount of an award a victim or claimant may
132	132	receive under Subsection (c) or (c-1), except that the limitation
133	133	for:
134	134	(1) relocation expenses as provided by Subsection
135	135	(c)(1) or (c-1)(1) may not be less than $2,000; and
136	136	(2) housing rental expenses as provided by Subsection
137	137	(c)(2) or (c-1)(2) may not be less than $1,800.
138	138	(d) The attorney general by rule may establish a limitation
139	139	on an award a [An immediate] family member or household member of a
140	140	deceased victim may [not] receive for [more than $1,000 in] lost
141	141	wages as a result of bereavement leave taken by the family or
142	142	household member, except that the limit may not be less than the
143	143	lesser of:
144	144	(1) $1,000; or
145	145	(2) an amount equal to 10 work days of lost wages.
146	146	SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only
147	147	to compensation for criminally injurious conduct occurring on or
148	148	after the effective date of this Act. Compensation for criminally
149	149	injurious conduct occurring before the effective date of this Act
150	150	is governed by the law in effect on the date the conduct occurred,
151	151	and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
152	152	purposes of this section, criminally injurious conduct occurred
153	153	before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
154	154	underlying the conduct occurred before that date.
155	155	SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.