By:  Rangel                                                       H.B. No. 3377



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the filing of a notice of seizure and intended 
forfeiture in an asset forfeiture case and the location of a hearing 
in the case
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 59.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, 
Subsection (b) is amended to read as follows:
	(b)  A forfeiture proceeding commences under this chapter 
when the attorney representing the state files a notice of the 
seizure and intended forfeiture in the name of the state with the 
clerk of the district court in the county in which the seizure is 
made.  The attorney representing the state must attach to the notice 
the peace officer's sworn statement under Article 59.03 of this 
code, or if the property has been seized under Article 59.12(b), the 
statement of the terms and amount of the depository account or 
inventory of assets provided by the regulated financial institution 
to the peace officer executing the warrant in the manner described 
by Article 59.12(b).  Except as provided by Subsection (c) of the 
article, the attorney representing the state shall cause certified 
copies of the notice to be served on the following persons in the 
same manner as provided for the service of process by citation in 
civil cases:  (1)  the owner of the property; and  (2)  any interest 
holder in the property.  Forfeiture cases arising from the Sarita 
Federal Checkpoint in Sarita, Kenedy County, Texas, may be filed in 
the county where the property was seized and with consent of the 
Respondent, in a county that is adjacent to and in the same judicial 
district as the county where the property was seized.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.