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 9  AN ACT concerning civil procedure; relating to asset seizure and forfei-
10    ture; amending K.S.A. 60-4117 and repealing the existing section.
11
12  Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
13    Section 1.  K.S.A. 60-4117 is hereby amended to read as follows: 60-
14  4117. (a) When property is forfeited under this act, the law enforcement
15  agency may:
16    (1)  Retain such property for official use or transfer the custody or
17  ownership to any local, state or federal agency, subject to any lien pre-
18  served by the court;
19    (2)  destroy or use for investigative or training purposes, any illegal or
20  controlled substances and equipment or other contraband, provided that
21  materials necessary as evidence shall be preserved;
22    (3)  sell property which is not required by law to be destroyed and
23  which is not harmful to the public:
24    (A)  All property, except real property, designated by the seizing
25  agency to be sold shall be sold at public sale to the highest bidder for
26  cash without appraisal. The seizing agency shall first cause notice of the
27  sale to be made by publication at least once in an official county news-
28  paper as defined by K.S.A. 64-101, and amendments thereto. Such notice
29  shall include the time, place, and conditions of the sale and description
30  of the property to be sold. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a state
31  agency from using the state surplus property system and such system's
32  procedures shall be sufficient to meet the requirements of this subsection.
33    (B)  Real property may be sold pursuant to subsection (A), or the
34  seizing agency may contract with a real estate company, licensed in this
35  state, to list, advertise and sell such real property in a commercially rea-
36  sonable manner.
37    (C)  No employee or public official of any agency involved in the in-
38  vestigation, seizure or forfeiture of seized property may purchase or at-
39  tempt to purchase such property; or
40    (4)  salvage the property, subject to any lien preserved by the court.
41    (b)  When firearms are forfeited under this act, the firearms in the
42  discretion of the seizing agency, shall be destroyed, used within the seiz-
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 1  ing agency for official purposes, traded to another law enforcement
 2  agency for use within such agency or given to the Kansas bureau of in-
 3  vestigation for law enforcement, testing, comparison or destruction by
 4  the Kansas bureau of investigation forensic laboratory.
 5    (c)  The proceeds of any sale shall be distributed in the following order
 6  of priority:
 7    (1)  For satisfaction of any court preserved security interest or lien;
 8    (2)  thereafter, for payment of all proper expenses of the proceedings
 9  for forfeiture and disposition, including expenses of seizure, inventory,
10  appraisal, maintenance of custody, preservation of availability, advertising,
11  service of process, sale and court costs;
12    (3)  reasonable attorney fees:
13    (A)  If the plaintiff's attorney is a county or district attorney, an assis-
14  tant, or another governmental agency's attorney, fees shall not exceed
15  15% of the total proceeds, less the amounts of subsection (c)(1) and (2),
16  in an uncontested forfeiture nor 20% of the total proceeds, less the
17  amounts of subsection (c)(1) and (2), in a contested forfeiture. Such fees
18  shall be deposited in the county or city treasury and credited to the special
19  prosecutor's trust fund. Moneys in such fund shall not be considered a
20  source of revenue to meet normal operating expenditures, including sal-
21  ary enhancement. Such fund shall be expended by the county or district
22  attorney, or other governmental agency's attorney through the normal
23  county or city appropriation system and shall be used for such additional
24  law enforcement and prosecutorial purposes as the county or district at-
25  torney or other governmental agency's attorney deems appropriate, in-
26  cluding educational purposes. All moneys derived from past or pending
27  forfeitures shall be expended pursuant to this act. The board of county
28  commissioners shall provide adequate funding to the county or district
29  attorney's office to enable such office to enforce this act. Neither future
30  forfeitures nor the proceeds therefrom shall be used in planning or adopt-
31  ing a county or district attorney's budget; or
32    (B)  if the plaintiff's attorney is a private attorney, such reasonable
33  fees shall be negotiated by the employing law enforcement agency;
34    (4)  repayment of law enforcement funds expended in purchasing of
35  contraband or controlled substances, subject to any interagency agree-
36  ment.
37    (d)  Any proceeds remaining shall be credited as follows, subject to
38  any interagency agreement:
39    (1)  If the law enforcement agency is a state agency, the entire amount
40  shall be deposited in the state treasury and credited to such agency's state
41  forfeiture fund. There is hereby established in the state treasury the fol-
42  lowing state funds: Kansas bureau of investigation state forfeiture fund,
43  Kansas highway patrol state forfeiture fund and, Kansas department of
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 1  corrections state forfeiture fund and Kansas state fire marshal forfeiture
 2  fund. Expenditures from the Kansas bureau of investigation state forfei-
 3  ture fund shall be made upon warrants of the director of accounts and
 4  reports issued pursuant to vouchers approved by the attorney general or
 5  by a person or persons designated by the attorney general. Expenditures
 6  from the Kansas highway patrol state forfeiture fund shall be made upon
 7  warrants of the director of accounts and reports issued pursuant to vouch-
 8  ers approved by the superintendent of the highway patrol or by a person
 9  or persons designated by the superintendent. Expenditures from the Kan-
10  sas department of corrections state forfeiture fund shall be made upon
11  warrants of the director of accounts and reports issued pursuant to vouch-
12  ers approved by the secretary of the department of corrections or by a
13  person or persons designated by the secretary. Expenditures from the
14  Kansas state fire marshal forfeiture fund shall be made upon warrants of
15  the director of accounts and reports issued pursuant to vouchers approved
16  by the state fire marshal or by a person or persons designated by the state
17  fire marshal. Each agency shall compile and submit a forfeiture fund
18  report to the legislature on or before February 1 of each year. Such report
19  shall include, but not be limited to: (A) The fund balance on December
20  1; (B) the deposits and expenditures for the previous 12-month period
21  ending December 1. Upon the effective date of this act, the director of
22  accounts and reports is directed to transfer each agency's balance in the
23  state special asset forfeiture fund to the agency's new, state forfeiture
24  fund. All liabilities of the state special asset forfeiture fund existing prior
25  to such date are hereby imposed on the Kansas bureau of investigation
26  state forfeiture fund, Kansas highway patrol state forfeiture fund and the
27  Kansas department of corrections state forfeiture fund. The state special
28  asset forfeiture fund is hereby abolished.
29    (2)  If the law enforcement agency is a city or county agency, the
30  entire amount shall be deposited in such city or county treasury and cred-
31  ited to a special law enforcement trust fund. Each agency shall compile
32  and submit annually a special law enforcement trust fund report to the
33  entity which has budgetary authority over such agency and such report
34  shall specify, for such period, the type and approximate value of the for-
35  feited property received, the amount of any forfeiture proceeds received,
36  and how any of those proceeds were expended.
37    (3)  Moneys in the Kansas bureau of investigation state forfeiture
38  fund, Kansas highway patrol state forfeiture fund, Kansas department of
39  corrections state forfeiture fund, Kansas state fire marshal forfeiture fund
40  and the special law enforcement trust funds shall not be considered a
41  source of revenue to meet normal operating expenses. Such funds shall
42  be expended by the agencies or departments through the normal city,
43  county or state appropriation system and shall be used for such special,
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 1  additional law enforcement purposes as the law enforcement agency head
 2  deems appropriate. Neither future forfeitures nor the proceeds therefrom
 3  shall be used in planning or adopting a law enforcement agency's budget.
 4    Sec. 2.  K.S.A. 60-4117 is hereby repealed.
 5    Sec. 3.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
 6  publication in the statute book.