44-14-101. Disposition of property held by state public safety officer -- rulemaking. (1) A state agency that employs a public safety officer may adopt administrative rules to provide for the care, restitution, sale, donation, return, or destruction of unclaimed tangible personal property that may come into the possession of the agency or a public safety officer employed by the agency for which state law does not otherwise provide a procedure for disposition.
(2) At a minimum, the ordinance or resolution must provide:
(a) that unclaimed property valued at $20 or more must be held by the state agency for a period of at least 3 months;
(b) a process by which the state agency shall attempt to notify the legal owner of unclaimed property held in its possession;
(c) a process by which the state agency may allow a finder of unclaimed personal property to take possession of that property if it remains unclaimed;
(d) that unclaimed property will be destroyed as allowed or required by local, state, or federal law, returned to the finder, donated, or otherwise sold at public auction to the highest bidder;
(e) that, at least 10 days prior to the time fixed for the destruction, return, donation, or sale at public auction of unclaimed property, notice of the planned disposal must be given by publication one time in a newspaper of general circulation; and
(f) that, upon proof of legal ownership, the state agency shall restore the unclaimed property to its legal owner.
(3) After property has been destroyed, returned, donated, or sold at public auction, the property or the value of the property is not redeemable by the owner or another person entitled to possession.
(4) For the purposes of this section, "public safety officer" has the meaning provided in 44-4-401.
History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 295, L. 2017.