SECTION 61.701. Applicability and General Provisions

(a) Pursuant to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.542, a peace officer or a former peace officer, as defined therein, who, in the performance of the officer's duties as a peace officer employed by the state or a local governmental entity, sustains an injury as a result of criminally injurious conduct on or after September 1, 1989, will be entitled to annual payments if the peace officer's condition is a total disability that has persisted for more than 12 months and results in a permanent incapacity for work. In order to be eligible to receive annual payments, the peace officer must comply with the application provisions of this chapter, and other applicable state laws and the OAG will compute the amount of the annual payments in a manner consistent with Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 56, the Texas Administrative Code, and any other controlling law.

(b) A disabled peace officer, determined to be eligible for benefits pursuant to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.542, may also be eligible for compensation pursuant to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.42. When a peace officer is eligible to receive payments under both provisions, payments pursuant to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.42 will be exhausted before payments will be made under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 56.542.

(c) For purposes of this subchapter, eligibility and award determinations will be made based on the law that was in effect at the time the criminally injurious conduct occurred. The date of the criminally injurious conduct is the date of the injury that resulted in the disability of the peace officer. The date of the disability is determined by the latter of the date of the injury or the date that the peace officer is no longer able to perform the duties of a peace officer due to the criminally injurious conduct.

Source Note: The provisions of this §61.701 adopted to be effective December 15, 2002, 27 TexReg 11513; amended to be effective October 30, 2014, 39 TexReg 8373