S-1690.2 _______________________________________________
SENATE BILL 5882
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 52nd Legislature 1991 Regular Session
By Senators Pelz, McCaslin, Johnson, Madsen, Moore and Owen.
Read first time February 28, 1991. Referred to Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance.
AN ACT Relating to drug assets property forfeiture by criminals; adding new sections to chapter 43.10 RCW; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that drug asset forfeiture and criminal profiteering laws allow law enforcement officials and the courts to strip drug dealers and other successful criminals of the wealth they have acquired from their crimes and the assets they have used to facilitate those crimes. These laws are rarely used by prosecutors, however, because of the difficulty in identifying profiteering and the assets that criminals may have as a result of their crimes. It is the intent of the legislature to provide local law enforcement officials with sufficient resources to seize the assets of criminals and the proceeds of their profiteering.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.10 RCW to read as follows:
The attorney general shall establish a drug asset forfeiture and criminal profiteering unit. The unit shall: (1) Work with police investigators to locate assets and identify drug traffickers who have significant assets to be forfeited; (2) help police investigators build criminal prosecution related civil asset forfeiture cases; (3) assist prosecutors in counties throughout the state in gathering information necessary to locate assets that may be forfeited as a result of criminal activity; (4) litigate and assist local prosecutors in the litigation of drug asset forfeiture cases and other complex forfeiture or profiteering cases; and (5) conduct seminars and training sessions on investigation and prosecution of asset forfeiture and criminal profiteering cases.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 43.10 RCW to read as follows:
The drug asset forfeiture and criminal profiteering account is created in the custody of the state treasurer. Fifty percent of the proceeds from seizures made in cases filed by the drug asset forfeiture and criminal profiteering unit in the office of the attorney general under section 2 of this act shall be deposited into the account. Expenditures from the account may be used only for the support of the activities of the drug asset forfeiture and criminal profiteering unit in the office of the attorney general. Only the attorney general or the attorney general's designee may authorize expenditures from the account. The account is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for expenditures.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The sum of one million dollars, or as much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated for the biennium ending June 30, 1993, from the general fund to the attorney general for the purposes of establishing the drug asset forfeiture and criminal profiteering unit in the office of the attorney general as authorized by this act.