By:  Greenberg                                         H.B. No. 237
       73R434 DRH-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the conviction of a defendant on the uncorroborated
    1-3  testimony of the victim of a sexual offense or sexual assault.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 38.07, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 38.07.  Testimony in Corroboration of Victim of Sexual
    1-8  Offense OR SEXUAL ASSAULT.  A conviction under Chapter 21, Section
    1-9  22.011, or Section 22.021, Penal Code, is supportable on the
   1-10  uncorroborated testimony of the victim of the sexual offense if the
   1-11  victim informed any person, other than the defendant, of the
   1-12  alleged offense within six months after the date on which the
   1-13  offense is alleged to have occurred.  The requirement that the
   1-14  victim inform another person of an alleged offense does not apply
   1-15  if the victim was younger than 18 <14> years of age at the time of
   1-16  the alleged offense.  The court shall instruct the jury that the
   1-17  time which lapsed between the alleged offense and the time it was
   1-18  reported shall be considered by the jury only for the purpose of
   1-19  assessing the weight to be given to the testimony of the victim.
   1-20        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   1-21  only to a trial for an offense committed on or after the effective
   1-22  date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is
   1-23  committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of
   1-24  the offense occurs before the effective date.
    2-1        (b)  The trial of an offense committed before the effective
    2-2  date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense
    2-3  was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for this
    2-4  purpose.
    2-5        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    2-6        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-7  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-8  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
    2-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.