Bill Text: TX HB2303 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to compensation under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act for parents and guardians of certain deceased crime victims.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-19 - Left pending in committee [HB2303 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB2303-Introduced.html

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82R10709 MAW-D
By: Alvarado H.B. No. 2303

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to compensation under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act
for parents and guardians of certain deceased crime victims.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 56.32(a)(9), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is amended to read as follows:
(9) "Pecuniary loss" means the amount of 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 resulting from the personal
injury; or
(iii) participation in or attendance at
investigative, prosecutorial, or judicial processes related to the
criminally injurious conduct and participation in or attendance at
any postconviction or postadjudication proceeding relating to
criminally injurious conduct;
(C) care of a child or dependent;
(D) funeral and burial expenses, including, for
an immediate 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 56.41(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, as provided
by Article 56.42(d) or (d-1), of relocation and housing rental
assistance for:
(i) [incurred by] a victim of family
violence or a victim of sexual assault who is assaulted in the
victim's place of residence; or
(ii) a parent or guardian of a deceased
victim 18 months of age or younger [for relocation and housing
rental assistance payments];
(I) for an immediate family member or household
member of a deceased victim, bereavement leave of not more than 10
work days; and
(J) reasonable and necessary costs of traveling
to and from a place of execution for the purpose of witnessing the
execution, including one night's lodging near the place at which
the execution is conducted.
SECTION 2. Article 56.42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (d-1) to read as follows:
(d-1) A parent or guardian of a deceased victim 18 months of
age or younger who suffered death as a result of criminally
injurious conduct that also resulted in damage to or loss of real or
personal property may receive a onetime-only assistance payment in
an amount not to exceed:
(1) $2,000 to be used for relocation expenses
described by Subsection (d)(1); and
(2) $1,800 to be used for housing rental expenses.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a victim of a criminal offense committed or a violation that
occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. A criminal
offense committed or a violation that occurs before the effective
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
offense was committed or the violation occurred, and the former law
is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this
section, a criminal offense was committed or a violation occurred
before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
or violation occurred before that date.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.