By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 957

(In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2021; March 11, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; April 29, 2021, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 29, 2021, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 957 By: Whitmire

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the denial or reduction of an award otherwise payable under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Article 56B.107, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:

(a) Except as otherwise provided by this article, the [The] attorney general may deny or reduce an award otherwise payable:

(1) if the claimant or victim has not substantially cooperated with an appropriate law enforcement agency;

(2) if, as a result of the claimant's or victim's behavior, the claimant or victim bears a share of the responsibility for the act or omission giving rise to the claim;

(3) to the extent that pecuniary loss is recouped from a collateral source; or

(4) if the claimant or victim was engaging in an activity that at the time of the criminally injurious conduct was prohibited by law, including a rule.

(c) The attorney general may not deny or reduce an award under Subsection (a)(1) based on the interactions of the claimant or victim with a law enforcement agency at the crime scene or hospital unless the attorney general finds that the claimant or victim, subsequent to the claimant's or victim's interactions at the crime scene or hospital, failed or refused to substantially cooperate with the law enforcement agency.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to compensation for criminally injurious conduct occurring on or after the effective date of this Act. Compensation for criminally injurious conduct occurring before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the conduct occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, criminally injurious conduct occurred before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense underlying the conduct occurred before that date.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.

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