By Gallegos                                           S.B. No. 1247
         77R8752 JMC-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the use of excess money in the compensation to victims
 1-3     of crime fund for public hospitals and hospital districts that
 1-4     provide victim-related services or assistance.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1. Articles 56.541(c), (d), and (e), Code of Criminal
 1-7     Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
 1-8           (c)  For a state fiscal biennium, the legislature may
 1-9     appropriate from the compensation to victims of crime fund the
1-10     amount of excess money in the fund certified for the biennium under
1-11     Subsection (b):
1-12                 (1)  to state agencies that deliver or fund
1-13     victim-related services or assistance; or
1-14                 (2)  to the attorney general for distribution to public
1-15     hospitals or hospital districts that provide victim-related
1-16     services or assistance.
1-17           (d)  The attorney general and the comptroller shall cooperate
1-18     in determining the proper allocation of the various sources of
1-19     revenue deposited to the credit of the compensation to victims of
1-20     crime fund for purposes of this article.  If the amount of money
1-21     that the attorney general receives during a state fiscal year from
1-22     deposits made under this subchapter to the credit of the
1-23     compensation to victims of crime fund by a county that has a public
1-24     hospital or hospital district that provides victim-related services
 2-1     or assistance exceeds the amount of money paid from the fund during
 2-2     that fiscal year to victims located in the county, the attorney
 2-3     general shall distribute the excess amount to the public hospital
 2-4     or hospital district in the county for use in providing
 2-5     victim-related services or assistance.
 2-6           (e)  The attorney general may use money appropriated from the
 2-7     compensation to victims of crime fund for grants supporting
 2-8     victim-related services or assistance provided by public hospitals
 2-9     or hospital districts and for grants or contracts supporting
2-10     victim-related services or assistance, including support for
2-11     private Texas nonprofit corporations that provide victim-related
2-12     civil legal services directly to victims, immediate family members
2-13     of victims, or claimants.  A grant supporting victim-related
2-14     services or assistance is governed by Chapter 783, Government Code.
2-15           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.