By Wise                                                H.B. No. 302
         76R2321 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to mandatory restitution in offenses involving the
 1-3     abduction of or interference with the custody of children.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-6     amended by adding Article 42.0371 to read as follows:
 1-7           Art. 42.0371.  MANDATORY RESTITUTION FOR KIDNAPPED OR
 1-8     ABDUCTED CHILDREN.  (a)  The court shall order a defendant
 1-9     convicted of an offense under Chapter 20, Penal Code, or Section
1-10     25.03, 25.031, or 25.04, Penal Code, to pay restitution in an
1-11     amount equal to the cost of necessary rehabilitation, including
1-12     medical, psychiatric, and psychological care and treatment, for the
1-13     victim of the offense if the victim is younger than 17 years of
1-14     age.
1-15           (b)  The court shall, after considering the financial
1-16     circumstances of the defendant, specify in a restitution order
1-17     issued under Subsection (a) the manner in which the defendant must
1-18     pay the restitution.
1-19           (c)  A restitution order issued under Subsection (a) may be
1-20     enforced by the state or a victim named in the order to receive the
1-21     restitution in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action.
1-22           (d)  The court may hold a hearing, make findings of fact, and
1-23     amend a restitution order issued under Subsection (a) if the
1-24     defendant fails to pay the victim named in the order in the manner
 2-1     specified by the court.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
 2-3     to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
 2-4     An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
 2-5     covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed and the
 2-6     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes
 2-7     of this section, an offense was committed  before the effective
 2-8     date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that
 2-9     date.
2-10           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.