78R1769 EMT-F

By:  Keel                                                         H.B. No. 170



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to compensation under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act 
for necessary costs incurred in witnessing an execution.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 56.32(a)(9), Code of Criminal Procedure, 
is amended to read as follows:
		(9)  "Pecuniary loss" means the amount of expense 
reasonably and necessarily incurred as a result of personal injury 
or death for:
			(A)  medical, hospital, nursing, or psychiatric 
care or counseling, or physical therapy;
			(B)  actual loss of past earnings and anticipated 
loss of future earnings and necessary travel expenses because of:
				(i)  a disability resulting from the 
personal injury;                     
				(ii)  the receipt of medically indicated 
services related to the disability resulting from the personal 
injury; or
				(iii)  participation in or attendance at 
investigative, prosecutorial, or judicial processes related to the 
criminally injurious conduct and participation in or attendance at 
any postconviction or postadjudication proceeding relating to 
criminally injurious conduct;
			(C)  care of a child or dependent;                                           
			(D)  funeral and burial expenses;                                            
			(E)  loss of support to a dependent, consistent 
with Article 56.41(b)(5);  
			(F)  reasonable and necessary costs of cleaning 
the crime scene;           
			(G)  reasonable replacement costs for clothing, 
bedding, or property of the victim seized as evidence or rendered 
unusable as a result of the criminal investigation; [and]
			(H)  reasonable and necessary costs, as provided 
by Article 56.42(d), incurred by a victim of family violence or a 
victim of sexual assault who is assaulted in the victim's place of 
residence for relocation and housing rental assistance payments; 
and
			(I)  reasonable and necessary costs of traveling 
to and from a place of execution for the purpose of witnessing the 
execution, including one night's lodging near the place at which 
the execution is conducted.
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only 
to compensation for costs incurred on or after the effective date of 
this Act. Compensation for costs incurred before the effective date 
of this Act is covered by the law in effect on the date the costs 
were incurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that 
purpose.
	SECTION 3.   This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.