Art. 56.32. DEFINITIONS    


(a) In this subchapter:

(1) "Child" means an individual younger than 18 years of age who:

(A) is not married; or

(B) has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes under Chapter 31, Family Code.

(2) "Claimant" means, except as provided by Subsection (b), any of the following individuals who is entitled to file or has filed a claim for compensation under this subchapter:

(A) an authorized individual acting on behalf of a victim;

(B) an individual who legally assumes the obligation or who voluntarily pays medical or burial expenses of a victim incurred as a result of the criminally injurious conduct of another;

(C) a dependent of a victim who died as a result of criminally injurious conduct;

(D) an immediate family member or household member of a victim who:

(i) requires psychiatric care or counseling as a result of the criminally injurious conduct; or

(ii) as a result of the criminally injurious conduct, incurs with respect to a deceased victim expenses for traveling to and attending the victim's funeral or suffers wage loss from bereavement leave taken in connection with the death of that victim; or

(E) an authorized individual acting on behalf of an individual who is described by Subdivision (C) or (D) and who is a child.

(3) "Collateral source" means any of the following sources of benefits or advantages for pecuniary loss that a claimant or victim has received or that is readily available to the claimant or victim from:

(A) the offender under an order of restitution to the claimant or victim imposed by a court as a condition of community supervision;

(B) the United States, a federal agency, a state or any of its political subdivisions, or an instrumentality of two or more states, unless the law providing for the benefits or advantages makes them in excess of or secondary to benefits under this subchapter;

(C) social security, Medicare, or Medicaid;

(D) another state's or another country's crime victims' compensation program;

(E) workers' compensation;

(F) an employer's wage continuation program, not including vacation and sick leave benefits;

(G) proceeds of an insurance contract payable to or on behalf of the claimant or victim for loss that the claimant or victim sustained because of the criminally injurious conduct;

(H) a contract or self-funded program providing hospital and other health care services or benefits; or

(I) proceeds awarded to the claimant or victim as a result of third-party litigation.

(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 intended to cause personal injury or death or the conduct is in violation of Section 545.157 or 545.401, Transportation Code, and results in bodily injury or death, or is in violation of Section 550.021, Transportation Code, or one or more of the following sections of the Penal Code:

(i) Section 19.04 (manslaughter);

(ii) Section 19.05 (criminally negligent homicide);

(iii) Section 22.02 (aggravated assault);

(iv) Section 22.05 (deadly conduct);

(v) Section 49.04 (driving while intoxicated);

(vi) Section 49.05 (flying while intoxicated);

(vii) Section 49.06 (boating while intoxicated);

(viii) Section 49.07 (intoxication assault); or

(ix) Section 49.08 (intoxication manslaughter).

(5) "Dependent" means:

(A) a surviving spouse;

(B) a person who is a dependent, within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code, of a victim; and

(C) a posthumous child of a deceased victim.

(6) "Household member" means an individual who resided in the same permanent household as the victim at the time that the criminally injurious conduct occurred and who is related by consanguinity or affinity to the victim.

(7) "Immediate family member" means an individual who is related to a victim within the second degree by affinity or consanguinity.

(8) "Intervenor" means an individual who goes to the aid of another and is killed or injured in the good faith effort to prevent criminally injurious conduct, to apprehend a person reasonably suspected of having engaged in criminally injurious conduct, or to aid a peace officer.

(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), incurred by a victim of family violence or a victim of sexual assault who is assaulted in the victim's place of residence 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.

(10) "Personal injury" means physical or mental harm.

(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 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.

(12) "Family violence" has the meaning assigned by Section 71.004(1), Family Code.

(13) "Victim-related services or assistance" means compensation, services, or assistance provided directly to a victim or claimant for the purpose of supporting or assisting the recovery of the victim or claimant from the consequences of criminally injurious conduct.

(b) In this subchapter "claimant" does not include a service provider.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1993. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 805, Sec. 3, 4, eff. Aug. 30, 1993; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 5.84(a), eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 779, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Subsec. (a)(4) amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 14.27, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Subsec. (a)(8) amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 9.55, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1434, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Subsec. (a)(9) amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1470, Sec. 1, eff. June 19, 1999; Subsec. (a)(9) amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 11, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2001; Subsec. (a)(12) added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 11, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001; Subsec. (a)(2) amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1286, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003; Subsec. (a)(9) amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1286, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003; amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1303, Sec. 2, eff. June 21, 2003. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 66 , Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2005. Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 728 , Sec. 4.007, eff. September 1, 2005. Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1374 , Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2007.