Landowner Compensation
The Issue
Legislation passed in 2003 prevented governmental entities, particularly county sheriffs who had seizure funds, from compensating property owners for damages that occurred on their properties as a result of law enforcement actions. STPRA has sought to remedy this situation, allowing property owners to be fairly compensated in these instances.
New Legislation
In the 2009 legislative session, State Representative Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles authored a bill to allow compensation for property owners. The bill, which was passed into law, states that, “A county law enforcement agency may use funds received from the sale of a motor vehicle abandoned as a result of a vehicular pursuit involving the law enforcement agency… to compensate property owners whose property was damaged as a result of the pursuit”. The bill also states that compensation may not exceed:
1. The net proceeds of the sale of the vehicle.
2. $1,000 per property if more than one property was damaged.
3. The amount of the property owner’s deductible in his or her insurance policy.
The bill also states that the sheriff or constable must submit the proposed payment to the Commissioners Court for its consideration and approval at the next regularly scheduled meeting.
Analysis and Action
The bill as passed had numerous obvious flaws. Both the amount and timeliness of compensatory payments were woefully inadequate. The payments needed to be at the discretion of the sheriff and should not have been tied to a particular vehicle, but rather to the sheriff’s entire seizure fund. Payments should have been allowed to be higher in general and not limited to $1,000 per property if multiple properties suffered from an incident. The property owner should not have had to file an insurance claim for any amount below the cap. Having to file an insurance claim would cause the property owners’ premiums to increase, thereby resulting in an unfair burden. Happily, all of these new provisions were adopted by the legislature in 2011 in HB 3422, thanks to the efforts of STPRA members, our allies, and Rep. J.M. Lozano and Sen. Chuy Hinojosa.
We plan to work with Sheriff T. Michael O’Connor of Victoria, the State Sheriffs’ Association, and our allied landowner organizations during the next year to spread the word about the opportunities that this new legislation provides.