Assembly Bill No. 549–Committee on Ways and Means

 

CHAPTER..........

 

AN ACT relating to forfeitures; revising the provisions relating to the uses of forfeited property or the proceeds of forfeited property; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

    Section 1. NRS 179.1187 is hereby amended to read as

follows:

    179.1187  1.  The governing body controlling each law

enforcement agency that receives proceeds from the sale of forfeited

property shall establish with the State Treasurer, county treasurer,

city treasurer or town treasurer, as custodian, a special account,

known as the “................. Forfeiture Account.” The account is a

separate and continuing account and no money in it reverts to the

State General Fund or the general fund of the county, city or town at

any time. For the purposes of this section, the governing body

controlling a metropolitan police department is the Metropolitan

Police Committee on Fiscal Affairs.

    2.  The money in the account may be used for any lawful

purpose deemed appropriate by the chief administrative officer of

the law enforcement agency, except that:

    (a) The money must not be used to pay the ordinary operating

expenses of the agency.

    (b) Money derived from the forfeiture of any property described

in NRS 453.301 must be used to enforce the provisions of chapter

453 of NRS.

    (c) Money derived from the forfeiture of any property described

in NRS 501.3857 must be used to enforce the provisions of title 45

of NRS.

    (d) Seventy percent of the amount of money in excess of

$100,000 remaining in the account at the end of each fiscal year, as

determined based upon the accounting standards of the governing

body controlling the law enforcement agency that are in place on

March 1, 2001, must be distributed to the school district in the

judicial district. If the judicial district serves more than one county,

the money must be distributed to the school district in the county

from which the property was seized.

    3.  Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b)

of subsection 2, money in the account derived from the forfeiture

of any property described in NRS 453.301 may be used to pay for

the operating expenses of a joint task force on narcotics otherwise

funded by a federal, state or private grant or donation. As used in

this subsection, “joint task force on narcotics” means a task force

on narcotics operated by the Department of Public Safety in

conjunction with other local or federal law enforcement agencies.

    4.  A school district that receives money pursuant to paragraph

(d) of subsection 2 shall deposit such money into a separate account.

The interest and income earned on the money in the account, after

deducting any applicable charges, must be credited to the account.

The money in the account must be used to purchase books and

computer hardware and software for the use of the students in that

school district.

    [4.] 5. The chief administrative officer of a law enforcement

agency that distributes money to a school district pursuant to

paragraph (d) of subsection 2 shall submit a report to the Director of

the Legislative Counsel Bureau before January 1 of each odd-

numbered year. The report must contain the amount of money

distributed to each school district pursuant to paragraph (d) of

subsection 2 in the preceding biennium.

    Sec. 2.  NRS 179.119 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    179.119  1.  Any law enforcement agency that receives

forfeited property or the proceeds of a sale of such property pursuant

to the provisions contained in NRS 179.1156 to 179.119, inclusive,

shall:

    (a) File a quarterly report of the approximate value of the

property and the amount of the proceeds with the entity that controls

the budget of the agency; and

    (b) Provide the entity that controls the budget of the agency with

a quarterly accounting of the receipt and use of the proceeds.

    2.  Revenue from forfeitures must not be considered in the

preparation [or adoption] of the budget of a law enforcement agency

except as money to match money from the Federal Government.

    Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.

 

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