By: Alvarado, Parker S.B. No. 1804
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to restitution and compensation paid to victims of certain
offenses for tattoo removal related to the offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Article 42.0372, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
Art. 42.0372. MANDATORY RESTITUTION FOR [CHILD] VICTIMS OF
TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS OR [COMPELLING] PROSTITUTION RELATED
OFFENSES.
SECTION 2. Article 42.0372(a), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) The court shall order a defendant convicted of an
offense under Chapter 20A or Subchapter A, Chapter 43 [Section
20A.02 or 43.05(a)(2)], Penal Code, to pay restitution in an amount
equal to:
(1) the cost of necessary rehabilitation, including
medical, psychiatric, and psychological care and treatment; and
(2) the cost of the removal of a tattoo the victim
received as a result of force, fraud, or coercion related to the
offense[, for any victim of the offense who is younger than 18 years
of age].
SECTION 3. Article 56B.003(10), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is amended to read as follows:
(10) "Pecuniary loss" means the amount of the expense
reasonably and necessarily incurred as a result of personal injury
or death for:
(A) medical, hospital, nursing, or psychiatric
care or counseling, or physical therapy;
(B) actual loss of past earnings and anticipated
loss of future earnings and necessary travel expenses because of:
(i) a disability resulting from the
personal injury;
(ii) the receipt of medically indicated
services related to the disability; or
(iii) participation in or attendance at
investigative, prosecutorial, or judicial processes or any
postconviction or postadjudication proceeding relating to
criminally injurious conduct;
(C) care of a child or dependent, including
specialized care for a child who is a victim;
(D) funeral and burial expenses, including, for a
family member or household member of the victim, the necessary
expenses of traveling to and attending the funeral;
(E) loss of support to a dependent, consistent
with Article 56B.057(b)(5);
(F) reasonable and necessary costs of cleaning
the crime scene;
(G) reasonable replacement costs for clothing,
bedding, or property of the victim seized as evidence or rendered
unusable as a result of the criminal investigation;
(H) reasonable and necessary costs for
relocation and housing rental assistance payments as provided by
Articles 56B.106(c) and (c-1);
(I) for a family member or household member of a
deceased victim, bereavement leave; [and]
(J) reasonable and necessary costs of traveling
to and from a place of execution to witness the execution, including
lodging near the place where the execution is conducted; and
(K) tattoo removal as provided by Article
56B.106(c-4).
SECTION 4. Article 56B.106, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (c-4) to read as follows:
(c-4) A victim of trafficking of persons may receive
compensation in an amount not to exceed $3,000 for the removal of a
tattoo the victim received as a result of force, fraud, or coercion
related to the applicable offense.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An
offense committed before the effective date of this Act is governed
by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of
this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of
this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.