By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 957
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the denial or reduction of an award otherwise payable
  under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Article 56B.107, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  Except as otherwise provided by this article, the [The]
  attorney general may deny or reduce an award otherwise payable:
               (1)  if the claimant or victim has not substantially
  cooperated with an appropriate law enforcement agency;
               (2)  if, as a result of the claimant's or victim's
  behavior, the claimant or victim bears a share of the
  responsibility for the act or omission giving rise to the claim;
               (3)  to the extent that pecuniary loss is recouped from
  a collateral source; or
               (4)  if the claimant or victim was engaging in an
  activity that at the time of the criminally injurious conduct was
  prohibited by law, including a rule.
         (c)  The attorney general may not deny or reduce an award
  under Subsection (a)(1) based on the interactions of the claimant
  or victim with a law enforcement agency at the crime scene or
  hospital unless the attorney general finds that the claimant or
  victim, subsequent to the claimant's or victim's interactions at
  the crime scene or hospital, failed or refused to substantially
  cooperate with the law enforcement agency.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to compensation for criminally injurious conduct occurring on or
  after the effective date of this Act.  Compensation for criminally
  injurious conduct occurring before the effective date of this Act
  is governed by the law in effect on the date the conduct occurred,
  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For
  purposes of this section, criminally injurious conduct occurred
  before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
  underlying the conduct occurred before that date.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.