By:  Lewis, Ron                                        H.B. No. 178
       73R1022 CLG-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the disposition of certain abandoned or unclaimed
    1-3  property.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 18.17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding
    1-7  Subsection (h) to read as follows:
    1-8        (a)  All unclaimed or abandoned personal property of every
    1-9  kind, other than contraband subject to forfeiture under Chapter 59
   1-10  of this code and whiskey, wine and beer, seized by any peace
   1-11  officer in the State of Texas which is not held as evidence to be
   1-12  used in any pending case and has not been ordered destroyed or
   1-13  returned to the person entitled to possession of the same by a
   1-14  magistrate, which shall remain unclaimed for a period of 30 days
   1-15  shall be delivered <for sale> to the purchasing agent of the
   1-16  municipality or county in which the property was seized.  If a
   1-17  peace officer of a municipality seizes the property, the peace
   1-18  officer shall deliver the property to the purchasing agent of the
   1-19  municipality.  If any other peace officer seizes the property, the
   1-20  peace officer shall deliver the property to the purchasing agent of
   1-21  the county.  If the county has no purchasing agent, then such
   1-22  property shall be delivered to <sold by> the sheriff of the county.
   1-23  Except as provided by Subsection (h) of this article, the municipal
   1-24  or county purchasing agent or the county sheriff shall sell the
    2-1  property.
    2-2        (b)  The municipal or county purchasing agent or the sheriff
    2-3  of the county, as the case may be, shall mail a notice to the last
    2-4  known address of the owner of such property by certified mail.
    2-5  Such notice shall describe the property being held, give the name
    2-6  and address of the officer holding such property, and shall state
    2-7  that if the owner does not claim such property within 60 days <six
    2-8  months> from the date of the notice such property will be disposed
    2-9  of <sold> and the proceeds, if any <of such sale>, after deducting
   2-10  the reasonable expense of keeping such property and the costs of
   2-11  the disposition <sale>, placed in the treasury of the municipality
   2-12  or county giving the notice.
   2-13        (c)  If the owner of such property is unknown or if the
   2-14  address of the owner is unknown, then the municipal or county
   2-15  purchasing agent or the sheriff, as the case may be, shall cause to
   2-16  be published once in a paper of general circulation in the
   2-17  municipality or county a notice containing a description of the
   2-18  property held, the name of the owner if known, the name and address
   2-19  of the officer holding such property, and a statement that if the
   2-20  owner does not claim such property within 60 days <six months> from
   2-21  the date of the publication such property will be disposed of
   2-22  <sold> and the proceeds, if any <of such sale>, after deducting the
   2-23  reasonable expense of keeping such property and the costs of the
   2-24  disposition <sale>, placed in the treasury of the municipality or
   2-25  county disposing of <selling> the property.
   2-26        (h)  The municipal or county purchasing agent or the county
   2-27  sheriff may donate a bicycle the agent or sheriff receives for
    3-1  disposition under this article to a nonprofit charitable
    3-2  organization.
    3-3        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
    3-4  applies only to unclaimed or abandoned personal property that is
    3-5  seized by a peace officer on or after that date.  Unclaimed or
    3-6  abandoned personal property that is seized by a peace officer
    3-7  before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
    3-8  effect on the date the peace officer seized the property, and that
    3-9  law is continued in effect for this purpose.
   3-10        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-12  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   3-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.