By:  Wentworth                                         S.B. No. 949
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the corroboration of testimony by the victim of sexual
    1-2  assault.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Chapter 38, Code of Criminal Procedure, amended
    1-5  by changing Article 38.07 to read as follows:
    1-6        ART. 38.07  TESTIMONY IN CORROBORATION OF VICTIM OF SEXUAL
    1-7  OFFENSE.  A conviction under Chapter 21, Section 22.011, or
    1-8  Section 22.021, Penal Code, is supportable on the uncorroborated
    1-9  testimony of the victim of the sexual offense if the victim
   1-10  informed any person, other than the defendant, of the alleged
   1-11  offense within six months after the date on which the offense is
   1-12  alleged to have occurred.  The requirement that the victim inform
   1-13  another person of an alleged offense does not apply if the victim
   1-14  was younger than <14> 17 years of age at the time of the alleged
   1-15  offense.  The court shall instruct the jury that the time which
   1-16  lapsed between the alleged offense and the time it was reported
   1-17  shall be considered by the jury only for the purpose of assessing
   1-18  the weight to be given to the testimony of the victim.
   1-19        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   1-20  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   1-21  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
   1-22  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
   1-23  before the effective date.
    2-1        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
    2-2  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed
    2-3  and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
    2-4        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    2-5        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-6  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-7  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-8  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-9  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.