By: Truitt, Pena (Senate Sponsor - Brimer) H.B. No. 309
         (In the Senate - Received from the House April 16, 2007;
  April 17, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on
  Criminal Justice; May 18, 2007, reported favorably by the
  following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 18, 2007, sent to printer.)
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to certain notifications made by the Texas Department of
  Criminal Justice to close relatives of deceased victims.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 508.117(g)(1), Government Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
               (1)  "Close relative of a deceased victim" means a
  person who was:
                     (A)  the spouse of the victim at the time of the
  victim's death;
                     (B)  a parent of the deceased victim; [or]
                     (C)  an adult brother, sister, or child of the
  deceased victim; or
                     (D)  the nearest relative of the deceased victim
  by consanguinity, if the persons described by Paragraphs (A)
  through (C) are deceased or are incapacitated due to physical or
  mental illness or infirmity.
         SECTION 2.  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, 2007.
 
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