HB26-1052 • 2026

Rights for Victims of Certain Crimes

For purposes of the 'Victim Rights Act', the act prohibits a defendant or alleged offender in the underlying case from being the 'lawful representative' of a victim or the victim's designee if the vic

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Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Rep. R. Stewart, Rep. D. Woog, Sen. J. Carson, Sen. K. Wallace, Rep. J. Bacon, Rep. A. Boesenecker, Rep. J. Caldwell, Rep. C. Clifford, Rep. M. Duran, Rep. R. Gonzalez, Rep. E. Hamrick, Rep. A. Hartsook, Rep. J. Jackson, Rep. R. Keltie, Rep. S. Lieder, Rep. M. Lindsay, Rep. M. Lukens, Rep. J. McCluskie, Rep. K. Nguyen, Rep. C. Richardson, Rep. N. Ricks, Rep. M. Rutinel, Rep. L. Suckla, Rep. R. Taggart, Rep. T. Winter, Sen. M. Ball, Sen. A. Benavidez, Sen. S. Bright, Sen. M. Catlin, Sen. J. Coleman, Sen. L. Cutter, Sen. L. Daugherty, Sen. T. Exum, Sen. L. Frizell, Sen. J. Gonzales, Sen. I. Jodeh, Sen. C. Kipp, Sen. B. Kirkmeyer, Sen. C. Kolker, Sen. W. Lindstedt, Sen. J. Marchman, Sen. K. Mullica, Sen. R. Pelton, Sen. J. Rich, Sen. D. Roberts, Sen. R. Rodriguez, Sen. M. Snyder, Sen. T. Sullivan, Sen. M. Weissman
Last action: 2026-06-03
Official status: Governor Signed
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Rights for Victims of Certain Crimes

This law stops a person accused or convicted in a case from acting as the legal representative for child or at-risk adult victims and adds new rights to help those victims.

What This Bill Does

Prohibits defendants or alleged offenders from serving as lawful representatives for child or at-risk adult victims under the Victim Rights Act.
Requires district attorneys to notify victims if a crime laboratory employee committed wrongful actions against them.
Requires district attorneys to tell victims when an evidentiary hearing on a post-conviction petition is scheduled.
Allows victims to ask courts and officials to use abbreviations, pseudonyms, initials, or other preferred names during hearings.
Gives victims the right to speak at restitution assessment hearings.

Who It Names or Affects

Child victims of crimes
At-risk adult victims of crimes
Defendants and alleged offenders in criminal cases
District attorneys

Terms To Know

Lawful representative: A person legally allowed to act on behalf of a victim.
At-risk adult: An adult who is vulnerable due to age, disability, or other factors as defined by law.

Limits and Unknowns

The official text does not state when this law officially takes effect.
The summary does not explain what happens if someone breaks these new rules.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

L.006

HOU Appropriations

Passed [*]

Plain English: This amendment changes a committee report to list specific sections that need updates and removes several paragraphs of text from the document.

It replaces two lines in the Judiciary Committee Report with new instructions about which parts of the law should be changed or added.
It deletes two lines on page 1 of the committee report.

The amendment text only describes changes to a committee report and does not explain what those specific legal sections actually do for victims.
Because the full content of the deleted or substituted law is missing, it is unclear exactly how victim rights would be affected.

L.001

HOU Judiciary

Passed [*]

Plain English: This amendment updates the list of legal situations where a defendant cannot represent a victim and adds new rights for victims to request retesting of forensic evidence if lab errors occurred.

It expands the rule so that defendants in cases involving restitution assessment hearings also cannot act as lawful representatives for victims.
It clarifies that these rules apply specifically to offenders involved in the underlying criminal case.
It adds a new right allowing victims to ask district attorneys to retest forensic medical evidence if a crime lab employee made wrongful actions that likely changed the results.

The amendment text does not define what specific behaviors count as 'wrongful action' by a crime laboratory employee.
It is unclear how often or under what exact conditions victims can request these retests beyond the general rules listed in other laws.

L.002

HOU Judiciary

Passed [*]

Plain English: This amendment expands the list of legal hearings where a defendant cannot represent a victim and adds new rights for victims to request their preferred name be used in specific court proceedings.

It updates the law so that defendants or alleged offenders are banned from acting as lawful representatives for victims in more types of hearings, including those about restraining orders and certain criminal cases.
It adds a new right allowing victims to ask courts to use their preferred name during specific legal hearings under section 24-4.1-302.5.

The amendment text lists many specific law numbers (like 24-72-706 or 18-1.3-603) without explaining what those laws cover, so the exact types of cases affected are not fully described here.
Some parts of the original bill were removed by this amendment, but the text does not explain exactly which rules were deleted.

L.004

HOU Judiciary

Passed [*]

Plain English: This amendment changes the bill to require that medical evidence be collected and victims are told what the District Attorney decides.

The text now requires collecting medical evidence in these cases.
Victims must receive notice about the District Attorney's decision.

This amendment only changes one specific sentence on page 1 of a previous draft, so it does not explain what other parts of the bill say or how this rule applies to all crimes.
The full context of who must collect the evidence and exactly when victims get notified is missing from this short text.

Bill History

2026-06-03 Governor
Governor Signed
2026-06-02 Governor
Sent to the Governor
2026-06-02 Senate
Signed by the President of the Senate
2026-06-02 House
Signed by the Speaker of the House
2026-04-30 Senate
Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments
2026-04-29 Senate
Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments
2026-04-27 Senate
Senate Committee on Judiciary Refer Unamended - Consent Calendar to Senate Committee of the Whole
2026-04-23 Senate
Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Judiciary
2026-04-22 House
House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments
2026-04-21 House
House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee, Floor
2026-04-21 House
House Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole
2026-02-03 House
House Committee on Judiciary Refer Amended to Appropriations
2026-01-14 House
Introduced In House - Assigned to Judiciary

Official Summary Text

For purposes of the 'Victim Rights Act', the act prohibits a defendant or alleged offender in the underlying case from being the 'lawful representative' of a victim or the victim's designee if the victim is a child or an at-risk adult.
The act creates new rights for a victim under the 'Victim Rights Act', including the right to:
Be notified by the district attorney if the district attorney receives a notice that a crime laboratory employee engaged in a wrongful action that includes a crime against the victim and a notice that an evidentiary hearing on post-conviction petition for relief is held;
Request to be referred to by an abbreviation, pseudonym, initials, or another preferred name during hearings; and
Be heard at a restitution assessment hearing.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)