HBA-AMW H.B. 558 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 558
By: Tillery
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/23/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Children's advocacy centers (CACs) operate to protect the best interests of
child victims of abuse or neglect and offer information and therapeutic
services in a child-friendly environment where child victims can feel safe
sharing their experiences.  CACs have been established to enhance the
sensitivity and responsiveness of the criminal and civil justice systems to
child victims and their families, provide vital medical and mental health
services for these children and their families, and facilitate the
prosecution of defendants convicted of child abuse.  Although CACs receive
funding from the state, many centers rely heavily on private donations to
continue to provide services to child victims.  CACs could be further
supported if convicted defendants were court ordered to pay restitution to
a center that provided services to the victims.  Current law does not
authorize a court to order money to be directly paid to a CAC for services
rendered to victims.  House Bill 558 authorizes a court to order a
defendant to pay restitution to a CAC that provided services to the victim
and specifies that the center must provide documentation of the services
rendered. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 558 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to authorize a court
that sentences a defendant to order the defendant to pay restitution to a
children's advocacy center that provided services to the victim in addition
to any other restitution orders.  The bill establishes that a children's
advocacy center must provide the court with sufficient documentation to
establish actual provision of services to the victim and actual cost of
those services to be eligible to receive such restitution.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.