Other Victims, Other Bills
As the clock ticks down on the current Lege session, what bills are dying in Committee?
By Richard Whittaker, 11:05PM, Sun. Apr. 22, 2007
It was inevitable that, in the quest to fix the horrors of the Texas Youth Commission, the Legislature wasn't going to have time to take up every bill that it had on the books. It seems that two bills intended to give other victims of sexual abuse a certain degree of redress have fallen through the cracks.
Senate Bill 97 in the Senate and its House partner bill House Bill 204 remove the statute on limitations on felony sexual assault, felony aggravated sexual assault, and felony indecency with a child. At the moment, no charges relating to abuse of a child can be brought more than 10 years after their 18th birthday, while the other two charges expire after five years.
Nothing substantive has happened with SB 97 since it got referred to the Senate on Jan. 23, while the House bill has languished since getting to Criminal Jurisprudence seven days later.
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State Government, Legislature, Crime, Courts, Texas Youth Commission, TYC, Statute of limitations
