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78R2659 KCR-D

By:  Raymond                                                      H.B. No. 439



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the use of the compensation to victims of crime fund to 
pay for expert witnesses in criminal cases based on child abuse or 
the death of a child.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 56.54(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(b)  Except as provided by Subsections (h), (i), (j), [and] 
(k), and (l) and Article 56.541, the compensation to victims of 
crime fund may be used only by the attorney general for the payment 
of compensation to claimants or victims under this subchapter, the 
operation of the Crime Victims' Institute created by Chapter 412, 
Government Code, and other expenses in administering this 
subchapter.
	SECTION 2.  Article 56.54, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended by adding Subsection (l) to read as follows:
	(l)  The attorney general may use the compensation to victims 
of crime fund to pay an expert witness fee incurred in the 
investigation or prosecution of a criminal case based on physical 
or sexual abuse of a child or the death of a child.  The attorney 
general must pay the fee directly from the fund to the expert 
witness.  The attorney general may not pay more than $5,000 from the 
fund for an expert witness fee.
	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.