By: Harris, Seliger  S.B. No. 1377
         (In the Senate - Filed March 4, 2009; March 17, 2009, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
  April 20, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,
  Nays 0; April 20, 2009, sent to printer.)
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the administration of the compensation to victims of
  crime fund and the compensation to victims of crime auxiliary fund.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Article 56.54, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Subsection (m) to read as follows:
         (m)  Not later than September 15 of each year, the attorney
  general, after consulting with the comptroller, shall certify the
  amount of money remaining in the compensation to victims of crime
  auxiliary fund at the end of the preceding state fiscal year. If
  the amount remaining in the fund exceeds $5 million, as soon as
  practicable after the date of certification, the attorney general
  may transfer from that excess amount in the compensation to victims
  of crime auxiliary fund to the compensation to victims of crime fund
  an amount that is not more than 50 percent of the excess amount in
  the auxiliary fund, to be used only for the purpose of making
  compensation payments during the fiscal year in which the amount is
  transferred.
         SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Article 56.541, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
         (b)  At the time the attorney general certifies the estimates
  made under Subsection (a), the attorney general shall also certify
  for the next state fiscal biennium the amount of excess money in the
  compensation to victims of crime fund available for the purposes of
  Subsection (c), calculated by multiplying [subtracting] the amount
  estimated under Subsection (a)(2) by 105 percent, and subtracting
  that product from the sum of the amounts estimated under
  Subsections (a)(1) and (a)(3).
         SECTION 3.  The attorney general may not transfer money
  under Subsection (m), Article 56.54, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
  added by this Act, before the 2011 state fiscal year.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
 
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