Bill Text: TX HB535 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to compensation under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act for damages to real property suffered as a result of a person evading arrest or detention.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-16 - Referred to Criminal Jurisprudence [HB535 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB535-Introduced.html

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85R4112 MAW-D
By: Longoria H.B. No. 535

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to compensation under the Crime Victims' Compensation Act
for damages to real property suffered as a result of a person
evading arrest or detention.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Articles 56.32(a)(4), (9), and (11), Code of
Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(4) "Criminally injurious conduct" means conduct
that:
(A) occurs or is attempted;
(B) poses a substantial threat of personal injury
or death;
(C) is punishable by fine, imprisonment, or
death, or would be punishable by fine, imprisonment, or death if the
person engaging in the conduct possessed capacity to commit the
conduct; and
(D) does not arise out of the ownership,
maintenance, or use of a motor vehicle, aircraft, or water vehicle,
unless the conduct is:
(i) intended to cause personal injury or
death;
(ii) [or the conduct is] in violation of
Section 545.157 or 545.401, Transportation Code, if the conduct
[and] results in bodily injury or death;
(iii) [, or is] in violation of Section
550.021, Transportation Code; or
(iv) in violation of[, or] one or more of
the following sections of the Penal Code:
(a) [(i)] Section 19.04
(manslaughter);
(b) [(ii)] Section 19.05 (criminally
negligent homicide);
(c) [(iii)] Section 22.02 (aggravated
assault);
(d) [(iv)] Section 22.05 (deadly
conduct);
(e) Section 38.04 (evading arrest or
detention), if the conduct involved the use of a vehicle as defined
by that section;
(f) [(v)] Section 49.04 (driving
while intoxicated);
(g) [(vi)] Section 49.05 (flying
while intoxicated);
(h) [(vii)] Section 49.06 (boating
while intoxicated);
(i) [(viii)] Section 49.07
(intoxication assault); or
(j) [(ix)] Section 49.08
(intoxication manslaughter).
(9) "Pecuniary loss" means the amount of expense
reasonably and necessarily incurred as a result of:
(A) personal injury or death for:
(i) [(A)] medical, hospital, nursing, or
psychiatric care or counseling, or physical therapy;
(ii) [(B)] actual loss of past earnings and
anticipated loss of future earnings and necessary travel expenses
because of:
(a) [(i)] a disability resulting from
the personal injury;
(b) [(ii)] the receipt of medically
indicated services related to the disability resulting from the
personal injury; or
(c) [(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;
(iii) [(C)] care of a child or dependent;
(iv) [(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;
(v) [(E)] loss of support to a dependent,
consistent with Article 56.41(b)(5);
(vi) [(F)] reasonable and necessary costs
of cleaning the crime scene;
(vii) [(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;
(viii) [(H)] reasonable and necessary
costs for relocation and housing rental assistance payments as
provided by Article 56.42(d);
(ix) [(I)] for an immediate family member
or household member of a deceased victim, bereavement leave of not
more than 10 work days; and
(x) [(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; and
(B) damage to the victim's real property that is
caused by criminally injurious conduct described by Subdivision
(4)(D)(iv)(e).
(11) "Victim" means[, except as provided by Subsection
(c)]:
(A) an individual who:
(i) suffers personal injury or death as a
result of criminally injurious conduct or as a result of actions
taken by the individual as an intervenor, if the conduct or actions
occurred in this state; and
(ii) is a resident of this state, another
state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a possession or territory of the
United States;
(B) an individual who:
(i) suffers personal injury or death as a
result of criminally injurious conduct or as a result of actions
taken by the individual as an intervenor, if the conduct or actions
occurred in a state or country that does not have a crime victims'
compensation program that meets the requirements of Section
1403(b), [Crime] Victims of Crime [Compensation] Act of 1984 (42
U.S.C. Section 10602(b));
(ii) is a resident of this state; and
(iii) would be entitled to compensation
under this subchapter if the criminally injurious conduct or
actions had occurred in this state; [or]
(C) an individual who:
(i) suffers personal injury or death as a
result of criminally injurious conduct caused by an act of
international terrorism as defined by 18 U.S.C. Section 2331
committed outside of the United States; and
(ii) is a resident of this state; or
(D) an individual who, as a result of criminally
injurious conduct described by Subdivision (4)(D)(iv)(e), suffers
damages to real property located in this state and owned by the
individual.
SECTION 2. Article 56.34(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) The attorney general[,] shall establish whether, as a
direct result of criminally injurious conduct, a claimant or victim
suffered:
(1) personal injury or death that resulted in a
pecuniary loss for which the claimant or victim is not compensated
from a collateral source; or
(2) damages to real property, if the criminally
injurious conduct is conduct described by Article
56.32(a)(4)(D)(iv)(e).
SECTION 3. Article 56.36(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) An application must be verified and must contain:
(1) the date on which the criminally injurious conduct
occurred;
(2) a description of the nature and circumstances of
the criminally injurious conduct;
(3) a complete financial statement, including:
(A) the cost of medical care or burial expenses
and the loss of wages or support the claimant or victim has incurred
or will incur; [and]
(B) the damages to real property suffered by the
claimant or victim as a result of criminally injurious conduct
described by Article 56.32(a)(4)(D)(iv)(e); and
(C) the extent to which the claimant or victim
has been indemnified from a collateral source for the [those]
expenses or damages described by Paragraphs (A) and (B) [from a
collateral source];
(4) if appropriate, a statement indicating the extent
of a disability resulting from the injury incurred;
(5) an authorization permitting the attorney general
to verify the contents of the application; and
(6) other information the attorney general requires.
SECTION 4. Article 56.42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b-1) Awards payable to a victim and all other claimants
sustaining pecuniary loss because of damages to real property as a
result of criminally injurious conduct described by Article
56.32(a)(4)(D)(iv)(e) may not exceed $50,000 in the aggregate.
SECTION 5. Article 56.48(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Not later than the 40th day after the attorney general
renders a final decision, a claimant or victim may file with the
attorney general a notice of dissatisfaction with the decision.
Not later than the 40th day after the claimant or victim gives
notice, the claimant or victim shall bring suit in the district
court having jurisdiction in the county in which:
(1) the injury or death occurred;
(2) the victim resided at the time the injury or death
occurred; [or]
(3) if the victim resided out of state at the time of
the injury or death, in the county where the injury or death
occurred or in a district court of Travis County; or
(4) the real property is located, if the criminally
injurious conduct is described by Article 56.32(a)(4)(D)(iv)(e)
and resulted in pecuniary loss with respect to the property.
SECTION 6. 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 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.