By: Ellis  S.B. No. 262
         (In the Senate - Filed January 22, 2007; January 30, 2007,
  read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
  April 16, 2007, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 16, 2007,
  sent to printer.)
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 262 By:  Ellis
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 103.052, Civil Practice and Remedies
  Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection
  (a-1) to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (a-1), a [A] person who
  meets the requirements of Section 103.001 is entitled to
  compensation in an amount equal to $50,000[:
               [(1)  $25,000] multiplied by the number of years served
  in prison, expressed as a fraction to reflect partial years[, if the
  time served is less than 20 years; or
               [(2)  $500,000 if the time served is 20 years or more].
         (a-1)  A person sentenced to death who meets the requirements
  of Section 103.001 is entitled to compensation in an amount equal to
  $100,000 multiplied by the number of years served in prison,
  expressed as a fraction to reflect partial years.
         SECTION 2.  Subsection (c), Section 103.105, Civil Practice
  and Remedies Code, is repealed.
         SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act to
  Section 103.052, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, applies to an
  administrative proceeding for compensation for wrongful
  imprisonment for which the application is filed on or after the
  effective date of this Act.  An application filed before the
  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
  date of the filing, and that law is continued in effect for that
  purpose.
         (b)  The change in law made by this Act to Section 103.105,
  Civil Practice and Remedies Code, applies to an action:
               (1)  commenced on or after the effective date of this
  Act; or
               (2)  pending on that effective date and in which the
  trial, or any new trial or retrial following motion, appeal, or
  otherwise, begins on or after that effective date.
         (c)  In an action commenced before the effective date of this
  Act, a trial, new trial, or retrial that is in progress on the
  effective date is governed by the law applicable to the trial, new
  trial, or retrial immediately before the effective date, and that
  law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  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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