BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1804

By: Alvarado

Criminal Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill sponsor has informed the committee that survivors of human trafficking are too often forcibly tattooed by their traffickers for the purpose of "marking" or "branding" survivors to indicate that they are "owned" by a particular trafficker, which can be traumatizing reminders of their exploitation. Under current law, while certain survivors of human trafficking or compelling prostitution can receive restitution for medical, psychiatric, and psychological care, tattoo removal is not included. Additionally, current law limits this kind of restitution to such survivors under 18 years of age. S.B. 1804 seeks to remedy this situation by including expenses for tattoo removal in court-ordered restitution when the tattoos were applied through force, fraud or coercion related to the offense and by removing the age restriction, ensuring that all survivors regardless of age have access to financial assistance for qualified tattoo removal.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 1804 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to revise the requirement for a court to order a defendant convicted of trafficking of persons or compelling prostitution of a child younger than 18 years of age to pay restitution in an amount equal to the cost of necessary rehabilitation for any victim of the offense who is younger than 18 years of age as follows:

· broadens the applicability of those provisions to:

o a defendant convicted of any trafficking of persons or prostitution related offense; and

o any victim of such an offense by removing the specification that the victim is younger than 18 years of age; and

· expands the requirement for the court to order an applicable defendant to pay the restitution to include in that amount the cost of the removal of a tattoo the victim received as a result of force, fraud, or coercion related to the offense.

S.B. 1804 authorizes a victim of trafficking of persons to receive compensation capped at $3,000 for the removal of a tattoo the victim received as a result of force, fraud, or coercion related to the applicable offense. The bill expands the definition of "pecuniary loss" for purposes of the Crime Victims' Compensation Act to include the amount of the expense reasonably and necessarily incurred as a result of personal injury or death for tattoo removal as provided by the bill.

S.B. 1804 applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. An offense committed before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.