|
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to compensation under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act |
|
for parents and guardians of certain deceased crime victims. |
|
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, including, for |
|
an immediate family member or household member of the victim, the |
|
necessary expenses of traveling to and attending the funeral; |
|
(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; |
|
(H) reasonable and necessary costs, as provided |
|
by Article 56.42(d) or (d-1), of relocation and housing rental |
|
assistance for: |
|
(i) [incurred by] a victim of family |
|
violence or a victim of sexual assault who is assaulted in the |
|
victim's place of residence; or |
|
(ii) a parent or guardian of a deceased |
|
victim 18 months of age or younger [for relocation and housing
|
|
rental assistance payments]; |
|
(I) for an immediate family member or household |
|
member of a deceased victim, bereavement leave of not more than 10 |
|
work days; and |
|
(J) 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. Article 56.42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
amended by adding Subsection (d-1) to read as follows: |
|
(d-1) A parent or guardian of a deceased victim 18 months of |
|
age or younger who suffered death as a result of criminally |
|
injurious conduct that also resulted in damage to or loss of real or |
|
personal property may receive a onetime-only assistance payment in |
|
an amount not to exceed: |
|
(1) $2,000 to be used for relocation expenses |
|
described by Subsection (d)(1); and |
|
(2) $1,800 to be used for housing rental expenses. |
|
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
|
to a victim of a criminal offense committed or a violation that |
|
occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. A criminal |
|
offense committed or a violation that occurs before the effective |
|
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the |
|
offense was committed or the violation occurred, and the former law |
|
is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this |
|
section, a criminal offense was committed or a violation occurred |
|
before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense |
|
or violation occurred before that date. |
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |