1-1     By:  Shapleigh                                         S.B. No. 908
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 4, 1999; March 8, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
 1-4     March 22, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 8,
 1-5     Nays 1; March 22, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the award of certain vehicles and vessels acquired by
 1-9     theft or other unlawful means to government agencies.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Article 47.01a, Code of Criminal
1-12     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-13           (b)  If it is shown in a hearing that probable cause exists
1-14     to believe that the property was acquired by theft or by another
1-15     manner that makes its acquisition an offense and that the identity
1-16     of the actual owner of the property cannot be determined, the court
1-17     shall order the peace officer to:
1-18                 (1)  deliver the property to a government agency for
1-19     official purposes, and if the property is property subject to
1-20     Chapter 501, Transportation Code, or a watercraft or an outboard
1-21     motor, the government agency may take title free and clear of all
1-22     liens and claims of ownership provided notice of the hearing under
1-23     this chapter has been sent by certified mail not less than 10 days
1-24     prior to the date of the hearing to the last known registered owner
1-25     of the property subject to Chapter 501, Transportation Code, or the
1-26     watercraft or outboard motor and to each lienholder recorded under
1-27     Chapter 501, Transportation Code, for property subject to that
1-28     chapter, or under Chapter 31, Parks and Wildlife Code, for a
1-29     watercraft or an outboard motor;
1-30                 (2)  deliver the property to a person authorized by
1-31     Article 18.17 of this code to receive and dispose of the property;
1-32     or
1-33                 (3)  destroy the property.
1-34           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-35           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-36     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-37     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-38     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-39     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-40                                  * * * * *