HBA-AMW C.S.H.B. 2696 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2696 By: Hinojosa Criminal Jurisprudence 4/25/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Recently, several states, including Texas, have been examining the use of criminal asset forfeiture as a tool to further discourage and impede criminal activities. Problems found with the existing forfeiture system include the lack of adequate enforcement of auditing requirements, the availability of more lenient federal forfeiture remedies, and reports of seizures of cash without proper cause. C.S.H.B. 2696 modifies current asset forfeiture provisions and procedures and requires the establishment of educational and training programs on asset forfeiture for police chiefs and certain peace officers. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2696 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Education and Occupations codes to modify provisions relating to civil asset forfeiture. The bill authorizes a person in the possession of contraband property at the time a peace officer seizes the property to assert the person's interest in or right to the property at the time of seizure. The bill prohibits a peace officer who seizes contraband property, at the time of the seizure request, from requiring or in any manner inducing any person, including a person who asserts an interest in or right to the property seized, to execute a document purporting to waive the person's interest in or rights to the property. The bill requires the attorney general to notify a law enforcement agency (agency) or an attorney representing the state (attorney), if a copy of the annual audit of an agency or attorney who receives proceeds from contraband (audit) is not delivered to the attorney general not later than the 30th day after the date on which the annual period that is the subject of the audit ends (30-day period), within five days after the end of that period. On a showing of good cause, the bill authorizes the attorney general to grant an extension permitting the agency or attorney to deliver a copy of the audit after the 30-day period and before the 46th day after the date on which the annual period that is the subject of the audit ends (extension period). The bill requires the attorney general to notify the comptroller of public accounts (comptroller) if the agency or attorney fails to establish good cause for not delivering the copy of the audit within the required period of time or fails to deliver a copy of an audit within the extension period. After the comptroller is notified by the attorney general, the comptroller is required to perform the audit. The bill requires the comptroller, at the conclusion of the audit, to forward a copy of the audit to the attorney general. The bill provides that the agency or attorney is liable to the comptroller for the cost of the comptroller in performing the audit. C.S.H.B. 2696 requires the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, as part of the initial training and continuing education for police chiefs, to establish a program on asset forfeiture not later than January 1, 2002. The bill specifies that the program must include an examination of the best practices for educating peace officers about asset forfeiture and monitoring peace officers' compliance with laws relating to asset forfeiture. The bill requires an individual appointed or elected police chief before September 1, 2001, to complete the program on asset forfeiture not later than September 1, 2002. The bill requires the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, as part of minimum curriculum requirements, to establish a statewide comprehensive education and training program on asset forfeiture (program) for law enforcement officers not later than January 1, 2002, and provides that as a requirement for an intermediate proficiency certificate, an officer must complete the program. The bill requires an officer to complete the program not later than the second anniversary of the date the officer is licensed or the date the officer applies for an intermediate proficiency certificate, whichever date is earlier. The bill requires a person who holds an intermediate proficiency certificate or has held a peace officer license issued by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education for at least two years to complete the program not later than September 1, 2002. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2696 differs from the original bill by requiring the attorney general to notify a law enforcement agency (agency) or an attorney representing the state (attorney), if a copy of the annual audit of an agency or attorney who receives proceeds from contraband (audit) is not delivered to the attorney general, rather than not received by the attorney general's office. The substitute modifies the original bill by adding provisions regarding the granting of an extension period by the attorney general, the forwarding of a copy of the audit to the attorney general, and the liability of the agency or attorney to the comptroller of public accounts for the costs of performing the audit and by removing the provisions in the original bill regarding deduction of costs of the audit and deposit of remaining proceeds and property into a fund to be administered by the governor's office. The substitute adds provisions regarding the seizure of contraband property, the establishment of a program on asset forfeiture by the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, and the establishment of a statewide comprehensive education and training program on asset forfeiture. The substitute removes provisions in the original bill regarding forfeiture and seizure of contraband property, presumption and final judgment in forfeiture hearings, disposition of forfeited property, and a defendant's right to counsel in a forfeiture action. The substitute also removes provisions in the original bill that modified the definition of contraband and that specified that if the provisions regarding audits of an agency or office that receives profits from contraband property fall outside of the agency's or office's annual period, those provisions take effect at the beginning of the next annual period subsequent to September 1, 2001.