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The forensic exam is free, and it does not require a police report. Crime victims compensation can pay for counseling, lost wages and sometimes a move. If the assault happened at a business or where the survivor lived, a civil claim against that property may also exist.
You are not being asked to refer anyone. This page flags where common training materials have fallen behind Texas law. The step that cannot wait is evidence held by a business or a landlord, because video and access logs are overwritten. Call 713-521-0059 before that evidence is gone.
Article 56A.304(f) of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that a victim “may not be required to pay for” the forensic portion of the exam or the kit. The Attorney General reimburses the provider. If a survivor brings you a bill for a forensic exam, it is usually an error. The provider should bill the Office of the Attorney General.
Reporting is not a condition of the exam. Senate Bill 1401, 88th Legislature (2023), repealed Subchapter F of Chapter 56A and struck the words “NOT REPORTING ASSAULT” from the Subchapter G heading. It merged the two exam pathways for cases first reported, or care first sought, on or after 1 September 2023. Earlier cases follow the former law. The reported and unreported split still governs evidence handling and retention.
Article 56A.303(c) provides that a victim of sexual assault “may not be required to participate in the investigation or prosecution of an offense as a condition of receiving a forensic medical examination under this article.” Health and Safety Code Section 323.054(d) repeats it for SAFE programs and bars charging any cost described by Article 56A.304(a).
You may hear that a survivor is too late after 72 hours. Article 56A.303(a)(2)(A)(i) makes the exam mandatory, with consent, for an adult who arrives within 120 hours. Under Article 56A.303(a)(2)(A)(ii), it is mandatory later on a police referral. It is also mandatory where a physician, sexual assault examiner or sexual assault nurse examiner finds after a preliminary evaluation that one should be done. That second route is yours.
For a minor, the duty applies “regardless of when the victim arrives at the provider”. Consent is a condition in every branch. The Department of Justice national protocol calls 72 hours the figure jurisdictions “have traditionally used”, declines to endorse a cutoff, and directs case-by-case decisions. It notes that “advancing DNA technologies continue to extend time limits because of the stability of DNA and sensitivity of testing.”
End Violence Against Women International reports 72, 96, 120 and 168 hour timeframes in use. Viable evidence can exist well beyond them.
The medical portion, meaning treatment, medication and testing, runs through the Emergency Medical Care track. It is reimbursable rather than free at the point of service, so your patient may still get a bill.
House Bill 47 applies to a sexual assault first reported, or care first sought, on or after 1 September 2025. It added prescribed continuing care for 30 days after the exam, including medication and testing. Other care during the exam was already covered. The Attorney General publishes a limit of up to $25,000 for emergency medical care reimbursement for sexual assault examinations after 31 August 2023.
The Attorney General runs compensation under Chapter 56B. It can pay for counseling, lost wages, relocation in defined cases and medical care beyond the exam. No arrest, charge or conviction is required, and the decision is generally made on a preponderance of the evidence.
Under Article 56B.107(d), a forensic medical examination is sufficient evidence of substantial cooperation. Article 56B.107(c) bars denying or reducing an award over the survivor’s dealings with police at the scene or the hospital. The exception is where the survivor later failed or refused to substantially cooperate.
You may see a 72-hour reporting rule in training materials, but it is not in the statute. Article 56B.053 requires a report “within a reasonable period, but not so late as to interfere with or hamper the investigation and prosecution of the offense after the criminally injurious conduct is committed.” The Attorney General may extend it for extraordinary circumstances, and it does not apply to a child victim. Under Attorney General rule, counseling is usually capped at sixty sessions, generally one per week, for conduct on or after 1 September 2014. The old $3,000 counseling figure appears to have expired more than a decade ago.
The $50,000, $5,000, $3,333 and $3,000 figures are in Article 56B.106. The $1,500 emergency award is generally set by statute as well. The 60 sessions, $700, $300, $2,250 and $6,500 figures are set by Attorney General rule. They can change, so check before you quote them.
A survivor assaulted at home qualifies for relocation under Article 56B.106(c). Anyone assaulted elsewhere must use Article 56B.106(c-1). It requires that the move be necessary to protect the health or safety of the victim or a family or household member. You should know the deadline to apply is three years from the conduct, with extensions for good cause, child victims and documented incapacity. See Texas crime victims’ compensation.
Article 56A.304(a) entitles the provider, “or the sexual assault examiner or sexual assault nurse examiner who conducts that examination in accordance with this subchapter, as applicable,” to reimbursement by the Attorney General at a rate set by rule. It covers the forensic portion and the kit. It also covers other care during the exam under Health and Safety Code Chapter 323, Subchapters A and B. The subsection opens “On application to the attorney general and subject to Article 56A.305(e),” and Article 56A.305(e) lets the Attorney General deny or reduce a payment recouped from a collateral source. House Bill 47, 89th Legislature (2025), amended Article 56A.304(a)(3) to add the reasonable costs “of any prescribed continuing medical care that is related to the sexual assault and provided to the victim during the 30-day period following that examination, including medication and medical testing.”
Under Article 56A.304(b), your application needs a certification that the exam met Article 56A.303(a), plus an itemized bill. Article 56A.304(d) has two texts from two 2021 bills. One reads: “A health care provider is not entitled to reimbursement under this article unless the forensic medical examination was conducted at the provider by a physician, sexual assault examiner, or sexual assault nurse examiner.” The other reads: “A health care provider is not entitled to reimbursement under this article unless the forensic medical examination was conducted on the premises of the provider by a sexual assault examiner or sexual assault nurse examiner.” If your program uses physicians who are not certified examiners, ask the Attorney General’s office.
Article 56A.304(c) requires you to accept the payment unless you make a written, documented request. The Attorney General must then find reasonable justification for more.
Article 56A.304(e) allows training on request. Other care that night is paid under Article 56A.305 and the Labor Code fee guidelines, with a statutory cap. So telling a patient “the whole visit is free” can backfire. Article 56A.304 states no application deadline in its own text. Whether Attorney General rule imposes one is a question for the agency.
For a reported felony, Article 38.43(c-1) requires the kit be kept “for not less than 40 years, or until any applicable statute of limitations has expired, whichever period is longer”, and it applies “regardless of whether a person has been apprehended for or charged with committing the offense.” For an unreported kit, Article 56A.306(b) requires five years from collection, unless the survivor consents to release sooner under Section 420.0735. Under Article 56A.306(c), destruction then requires notice in the tracking system and no objection before the ninety-first day. In its current form, that rule covers evidence collected on or after 1 September 2019. It does not apply when the survivor consents to release.
Whether a kit reported later moves to the forty-year rule is unsettled. Government Code Section 420.0736, added by House Bill 1422, 89th Legislature (2025), allows DNA testing “without regard to whether a report of the offense is made to a law enforcement agency”. Its Section 23(b) limits this to evidence collected on or after 1 December 2025. The same date governs Article 56A.306 and Section 420.0735 as amended by that Act.
The results come back to the survivor. The Department may not share or use them for another purpose without further written consent. The statute requires the consent form to carry this warning in these words:
“IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO REPORT AN OFFENSE TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IN ORDER TO OBTAIN FORENSIC DNA TESTING OF BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE COLLECTED DURING YOUR FORENSIC MEDICAL EXAMINATION. HOWEVER, IF YOU AUTHORIZE FORENSIC DNA TESTING OF THE BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE COLLECTED DURING YOUR EXAMINATION WITHOUT REPORTING THE OFFENSE TO LAW ENFORCEMENT, ANY RESULTS OF THE FORENSIC DNA TESTING WILL NOT BE COMPARED TO DNA PROFILES MAINTAINED IN DNA DATABASES AND WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO USE IN A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OR TRIAL.”
The survivor gains an answer without police and gives up the database comparison that could tie the same person to other cases. The Department must explain how to report later.
Section 420.034 requires the tracking system, Track-Kit at tx.track-kit.us. It shows status and location, but DNA results only in the Section 420.0736 pathway. Under Section 420.034(f), an employee “may not disclose to a parent or legal guardian of a survivor information that would aid the parent or legal guardian in accessing records relating to evidence tracked under the system if the employee knows or has reason to believe that the parent or legal guardian is a suspect or a suspected accomplice” in the offense.
Under Section 420.0735(a), the survivor signs a release at fourteen or older. Below that age, a parent, guardian or Department of Family and Protective Services employee signs. After death, the personal representative does.
Section 420.031(f) provides: “Failure to comply with evidence collection procedures or requirements adopted under this section does not affect the admissibility of the evidence in a trial of the offense.” Parallel clauses appear at Sections 420.035(d) and 420.042(f). Those clauses address the criminal case. For a civil case, you help most by documenting what happened, including any deviation.
Section 420.071(a) of the Government Code makes an advocate’s communications with a survivor confidential, and Section 420.071(b) covers the advocate’s records. Section 420.071(c) gives the survivor a privilege “[i]n any civil, criminal, administrative, or legislative proceeding, subject to Section 420.072”.
Under Section 420.071(c-1), a partial unauthorized disclosure does not waive the privilege. Waiver is available only as to the disclosed portion, and only on motion. The court may find waiver only if that portion is relevant to a disputed matter. Waiver must also be necessary for a witness to respond to questions about it.
Section 420.072 permits disclosure to comply with Chapter 261 of the Family Code or Chapter 48 of the Human Resources Code, the abuse reporting laws. It also permits it where an advocate determines there is a probability of imminent physical danger to any person. The same goes for a probability of immediate mental or emotional injury to the survivor. Section 420.072(c) applies the Rules of Evidence when an expert relies on the record.
Every adult who has reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused or neglected must report it under Family Code Section 261.101(a). A professional must report not later than the 24th hour under Section 261.101(b).
Section 420.003 defines “advocate” as someone who provides advocacy services as an employee or volunteer of a sexual assault program, and a sexual assault nurse examiner is not one. The hospital chart falls under Rules 509 and 510 of the Texas Rules of Evidence, though a copy “provided to” you stays confidential in your file. Rule 509(e)(4) and Rule 510(d)(5) each lift the privilege where a party “relies on the patient’s physical, mental, or emotional condition as a part of the party’s claim or defense and the communication or record is relevant to that condition.” See therapy records in a sexual assault lawsuit.
Compensation is capped at $50,000 in the aggregate, and a civil claim is not capped the same way. A claim against the assailant is often uncollectible. A claim against a business or property owner whose negligence made the assault possible is different. Those defendants often carry insurance. Think of a broken gate, a failed keycard system, a warned-about employee, or a rideshare driver with prior complaints.
Texas usually requires two showings. One is foreseeability, shown under Timberwalk Apartments, Partners, Inc. v. Cain, 972 S.W.2d 749 (Tex. 1998). Where the owner had actual and direct knowledge that violence was imminent, foreseeability can also be shown under Del Lago Partners, Inc. v. Smith, 307 S.W.3d 762 (Tex. 2010). The other is an unreasonable risk, which UDR Texas Properties, L.P. v. Petrie, No. 15-0197 (Tex. Jan. 27, 2017), treats as a separate question.
For conduct on or after 1 September 2025, Chapter 118 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code applies to public schools. House Bill 4623, 89th Legislature (2025), created it. It allows a claim against a public school district or open-enrollment charter school. The claim is for a professional school employee’s sexual misconduct against an enrolled student. It also covers a failure to report suspected child abuse.
Section 118.006(a) waives the school’s governmental immunity to the extent of the liability the chapter creates. Section 118.006(b) provides that a professional school employee “may not assert official immunity under Subchapter B, Chapter 22, Education Code, the common law, or any other law” in such an action. Outside Chapter 118, Section 101.051 provides that “[e]xcept as to motor vehicles, this chapter does not apply to a school district or to a junior college district”, and Education Code Section 22.0511(a) shields a professional employee from personal liability for discretionary acts within the scope of employment, “except in circumstances in which a professional employee uses excessive force in the discipline of students or negligence resulting in bodily injury to students.” See sexual abuse at a Texas public school.
Section 118.002(a) reaches a school that “is grossly negligent or reckless, or engages in intentional misconduct, in hiring, supervising, or employing a professional school employee”. The Act applies “only to an act or omission that occurs on or after the effective date,” which is 1 September 2025. Section 118.002(b) provides: “In an action against a public school under this chapter, the professional school employee who committed the act or omission on which the claim is based must be named as a defendant.” Remedies are cumulative under Section 118.005, and Section 118.003 caps actual damages at $500,000 per claimant. Section 118.004 awards costs and fees to the prevailing party, including a district that wins.
On deadlines, you can tell the survivor to treat two years as the working assumption. Section 16.0045 sets thirty years for listed child offenses and five years for listed adult offenses, from accrual. The 2019 amendment to Section 16.0045 did not revive claims that had already expired before 1 September 2019. Section 16.003 supplies a residual two years that yields to Section 16.0045. If the case you are helping with involves intimate images, Section 98B.009 gives ten years from the later of reasonable discovery of the material or the depicted person turning eighteen.
The Texas Supreme Court has not decided whether Section 16.0045 reaches an institution that did not commit the offense. A Houston court held it is not limited to perpetrators in Stephanie M. v. Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate Diocese, 362 S.W.3d 656 (Tex. App. Houston [14th Dist.] 2011, pet. denied).
The argument for the longer period is strong where the institution hired, employed, enrolled or supervised the assailant. The question is open where the assailant was a stranger and the defendant is a property owner. Think of an apartment complex, a hotel or a parking garage. Some claims against governmental units need notice within months.
Evidence is also on a timer. In Brookshire Bros., Ltd. v. Aldridge, 438 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. 2014), the court described store cameras recording over events after about thirty days. The store kept about eight minutes. These pages are written for the survivor, for you to hand over:
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Video loops over itself, keycard logs age out, broken gates get repaired and staff move on. A preservation letter costs nothing and can be sent within days, long before anyone decides whether to bring a claim. It commits the survivor to nothing, and it keeps the option open.
We take calls from advocates, nurses, counselors and victim services staff who are trying to answer a question for someone. If you need to know whether a set of facts is worth a survivor’s time, ask. A question about a survivor’s options is not a referral and is not treated as one.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people and survivors across Texas.
If you are an advocate or a counselor asking on someone’s behalf, you are welcome to call with a general question. We will not ask you for their name.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
A printable two-page card for the survivors you see: hotlines, what to keep, and how to reach us on one side, and a second side written for you, including what Crime Victims Compensation and a civil claim can each do for your patient. Download the referral card (PDF). No one is paid for handing it out, and we do not ask you to refer anyone.
Yes. You can ask us how something works without identifying anyone, and we will not ask.
Yes. Article 56B.107(d) provides that receiving a forensic medical examination is sufficient evidence that the victim substantially cooperated with the investigation.
No. That figure circulates in training materials and is not in the statute. Article 56B.053 asks for a report within a reasonable period.
Yes, for evidence collected on or after 1 December 2025, under Government Code Section 420.0736. The results come back through the tracking system. They are not compared against DNA databases or used in a criminal case. The exception is if the survivor later reports and gives further written consent.
No. Section 420.072 permits disclosure where it is necessary to comply with Chapter 261 of the Family Code or Chapter 48 of the Human Resources Code. The privilege belongs to the survivor; the reporting duty is yours, and it is separate.
Usually when the assault happened on someone's property or premises, when an employer or institution is involved, or when evidence is on a deletion clock. The call is free and commits them to nothing.