LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 22, 2013

TO:	Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB3277 by Gonzalez, Naomi (Relating to the reporting and disposition of proceeds and property from criminal asset forfeiture; authorizing a fee.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would establish uniform reporting and disposition of property from criminal asset forfeitures and require a detailed reporting of each seizure and forfeiture to include: date seized; value, disposition and type of the proceeds or property seized; nature of the underlying offense; disposition of related criminal actions; venue of the forfeiture proceedings; whether the owner of the proceeds or property subject to forfeiture is represented by an attorney in the forfeiture proceedings; the gross amount received from the forfeiture, the expenses deducted as part of the forfeiture proceeding; and the net amount received from the forfeiture.  The State Auditor's Office would be required adopt a standard form for the timely submission of these reports and make the reports available on its Internet website.

The Office of the Attorney General reported that the provisions of the bill could be absorbed with existing resources.

The State Auditor's Office and the Department of Public Safety reported that costs incurred as a result of the bill would not be significant.

Local Government Impact

local law enforcement agencies already have a reporting requirement concerning criminal asset forfeiture, however the bill would require agencies to complete a more detailed form from the State Auditor's office.  This may result in a loss to larger departments but fiscal impact is not anticipated to be significant.

Source Agencies:

302 Office of the Attorney General, 308 State Auditor's Office, 405 Department of Public Safety

LBB Staff:

UP, ESi, KKR, MW