Bill Text: NY S00366 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Provides for the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles, vessels and aircraft used in counterfeit goods; however, this shall not apply to vehicles, vessels, or aircrafts that are used by any person as a common carrier in the transaction of business as such common carrier.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO CODES [S00366 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S00366-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           366
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  LANZA  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
        AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to the seizure and forfeiture
          of vehicles, vessels and aircraft used in counterfeit goods
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  The  penal  law is amended by adding a new article 166 to
     2  read as follows:
     3                                 ARTICLE 166
     4               SEIZURE AND FORFEITURE OF VEHICLES, VESSELS AND
     5                     AIRCRAFT USED IN COUNTERFEIT GOODS
     6  Section 166.00 Seizure and forfeiture of vehicles, vessels and  aircraft
     7                   used in counterfeit goods.
     8  § 166.00 Seizure  and  forfeiture of vehicles, vessels and aircraft used
     9             in counterfeit goods.
    10    1. Any vehicle, vessel or aircraft which has been or is being used  in
    11  violation  of  section  165.71, 165.72, or 165.73 of this title shall be
    12  seized by any peace officer, who  is  acting  pursuant  to  his  or  her
    13  special  duties,  or  police  officer, and forfeited as provided in this
    14  section.   However, such forfeiture and  seizure  provisions  shall  not
    15  apply  to any vehicle, vessel or aircraft used by any person as a common
    16  carrier in the transaction of business as such common carrier.
    17    2. The seized property shall be delivered by  the  police  officer  or
    18  peace  officer  having  made  the seizure to the custody of the district
    19  attorney of the county wherein the seizure was  made,  together  with  a
    20  report of all the facts and circumstances of the seizure.
    21    3. It shall be the duty of the district attorney of the county wherein
    22  the  seizure  is  made,  to  inquire  into  the  facts of the seizure so
    23  reported to him or her and if it appears probable that a forfeiture  has
    24  been  incurred  by  reason  of a violation of section 165.71, 165.72, or
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03264-01-9

        S. 366                              2
     1  165.73 of this title, for the determination of which the institution  of
     2  proceedings  in  the  supreme  court  is  necessary, to cause the proper
     3  proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted, at  any  time  after  thirty
     4  days  from  the date of the seizure, to declare such forfeiture, unless,
     5  upon inquiry and examination,  such  district  attorney  or  corporation
     6  counsel  decides  that such proceedings can not probably be sustained or
     7  that the ends of public justice do  not  require  that  they  should  be
     8  instituted or prosecuted, in which case, the district attorney or corpo-
     9  ration  counsel  shall  cause such seized property to be returned to the
    10  owner thereof.
    11    4. Notice of the institution of the  forfeiture  proceeding  shall  be
    12  served  either  (a)  personally on the owners of the seized property, or
    13  (b) by registered mail to the owners' last known address and by publica-
    14  tion of the notice once a week for two successive weeks in  a  newspaper
    15  published or circulated in the county wherein the seizure was made.
    16    5.  Forfeiture  shall  not  be  adjudged where the owners establish by
    17  preponderance of the evidence that (a) the use of such seized  property,
    18  in violation of section 165.71, 165.72, or 165.73 of this title, was not
    19  intentional  on  the  part of any owner, or (b) such seized property was
    20  used in violation of section 165.71, 165.72, or 165.73 of this title, by
    21  any person other than an owner thereof, while such seized  property  was
    22  unlawfully in the possession of a person who acquired possession thereof
    23  in violation of the criminal laws of the United States, or of any state.
    24    6.  The  district  attorney or the police department having custody of
    25  the seized property, after such judicial  determination  of  forfeiture,
    26  shall,  at  their discretion, either retain such seized property for the
    27  official use of their office or department, or, by a public notice of at
    28  least five days, sell such forfeited property at public  sale.  The  net
    29  proceeds  of  any  such  sale,  after  deduction  of the lawful expenses
    30  incurred, shall be paid into the general fund of the county wherein  the
    31  seizure was made.
    32    7.  Whenever any person interested in any property which is seized and
    33  declared forfeited under the provisions of this  section  files  with  a
    34  justice  of  the  supreme  court  a  petition  for  the recovery of such
    35  forfeited property, the justice of the supreme court  may  restore  such
    36  forfeited  property  upon  such  terms and conditions as he or she deems
    37  reasonable and just, if the petitioner establishes either of the  affir-
    38  mative  defenses  set forth in subdivision five of this section and that
    39  the petitioner was without personal or actual knowledge of  the  forfei-
    40  ture  proceeding.  If  the  petition  is  filed  after  the  sale of the
    41  forfeited property, any judgment in favor of  the  petitioner  shall  be
    42  limited  to  the net proceeds of such sale after deduction of the lawful
    43  expenses and costs incurred by the district attorney, police  department
    44  or corporation counsel.
    45    8.  No suit or action under this section for wrongful seizure shall be
    46  instituted unless such suit or action  is  commenced  within  two  years
    47  after the time when the property was seized.
    48    § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
    49  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
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