HBA-SEP H.B. 224 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 224
By: Wise
Criminal Jurisprudence
1/31/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Many cases of child victimization go unreported for years because child
victims are often too young, confused, emotionally traumatized, afraid to
report the victimization, or unaware that what happened is a crime.  There
is a recurring difficulty in prosecuting such cases because the child did
not report the crime until a number of years later and the statute of
limitations had expired.   Currently, the statute of limitations for
indecency with a child by engaging in sexual contact, sexual assault of a
child, or aggravated sexual assault of a child is ten years from the
victim's 18th birthday and the statute of limitations for indecency with a
child by exposure is ten years from the date of the commission of the
offense.  House Bill 224 changes the statute of limitations for these
offenses to ten years from the victim's 16th birthday.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 224 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure by changing the
statute of limitations for  indecency with a child by engaging in sexual
contact, sexual assault of a child, or aggravated sexual assault of a child
from ten years from the victim's 18th birthday to ten years from the
victim's 16th birthday.  H. B. 224 changes the statute of limitations for
indecency with a child by exposure from ten years from the date of the
commission of the offense to ten years from the 16th birthday of the victim
of the offense. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.