(a) As required by Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.36, all communications and OAG approved applications for compensation shall be submitted to the Crime Victims' Compensation Program, Office of the Attorney General, P.O. Box 12198, Austin, Texas 78711-2198. An OAG approved application for compensation is considered complete and will be processed when the application:

(1) is filled out in relevant part;

(2) is signed by a victim or a claimant as defined by Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.32;

(3) except when the application is an emergency medical care application, provides the case number or other sufficient information concerning the relevant law enforcement or public safety agency to enable the OAG to request a criminal report substantiating that the victim or claimant reported the crime; and

(4) provides any other information requested by the OAG to determine eligibility.

(b) If the victim or claimant submits an application that is not complete, the OAG will notify the victim or claimant in writing that his or her application is incomplete and request that the additional information be provided within 30 days. If the victim or claimant does not return the completed application to the OAG within 30 days, the application for compensation may be closed in accordance with §61.3 of this chapter (relating to Closing Applications).

(c) Under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.32(a)(2)(E), to be an authorized individual entitled to file an application and act on behalf of a child, an individual must:

(1) be the parent of the child;

(2) have legal guardianship of the child;

(3) be an emancipated child acting on his or her own behalf; or

(4) otherwise have legal authority to act on behalf of the child.

(d) The OAG may merge one or more submitted applications for compensation involving the same victim if:

(1) the applications arise out of the same alleged incident of criminally injurious conduct;

(2) the applications arise out of substantially similar alleged facts involving the same victim and offender; or

(3) the applications allege a pattern of criminally injurious conduct against the same victim by the same offender over a period of time greater than one day.

(e) Subsection (d) of this section shall not be construed to deny an application for compensation for each individually named victim of the same incident of criminally injurious conduct. If a victim or claimant disputes the merging of two or more applications for compensation under this section, the victim or claimant may request a reconsideration of the decision to merge applications.

Source Note: The provisions of this §61.201 adopted to be effective December 15, 2002, 27 TexReg 11513; amended to be effective May 8, 2005, 30 TexReg 2491; amended to be effective October 30, 2014, 39 TexReg 8373; amended to be effective August 20, 2017, 42 TexReg 3961