Opinion ID: 1763371
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Commencement of the Dormancy Period

Text: We now turn to the primary issue, that is, when the Property Code's three-year dormancy period begins to run for unclaimed cash bail bonds. The clerk claims that, because article 17.02 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows the release of cash bail bonds only upon order of the court, the dormancy period does not begin to run until the trial court signs an order releasing the funds. This argument rests upon the premise that a 1997 amendment to section 117.002 of the Local Government Code removed cash bail bonds from the provisions of that section governing commencement of the Property Code dormancy period. We disagree with this premise. Chapter 117 of the Local Government Code governs the administration of funds deposited into court registries. Section 117.002 provides, in pertinent part: Any funds deposited under this chapter, except cash bail bonds, that are presumed abandoned under Chapter 72, 73, or 75, Property Code, shall be reported and delivered by the county or district clerk ... without further action by any court. The dormancy period for funds deposited under this chapter begins on ... (1) the date of entry of final judgment or order of dismissal in the action in which the funds were deposited. TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 117.002 (emphasis added). If the phrase except cash bail bonds applies to the second sentence of section 117.002 (the dormancy provision), the clerk's position might have merit. The history of section 117.002 reveals, however, that the Legislature did not intend to require a release order for the Property Code's three-year dormancy period to commence. Before 1997, section 117.002 provided: Any funds deposited under this chapter that are presumed abandoned under Chapter 72, 73, or 75, Property Code, shall be reported and delivered by the county or district clerk ... without further action by any court. The dormancy period for funds deposited under this chapter begins on ... (1) the date of entry of final judgment or order of dismissal in the action in which the funds were deposited. See Act of May 7, 1991, 72 nd Leg., R.S., ch. 153, § 26, 1991 Tex. Gen. Laws 750, codified as amended at TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 117.002. In 1997, the Legislature amended the first sentence of section 117.002 to specifically exclude cash bail bonds. The second sentence, governing commencement of the Property Code's dormancy period, remained unchanged. The clerk argues that, by this amendment, the Legislature chose to exempt cash bail bonds entirely from section 117.002, including the provision governing commencement of the dormancy period. This is because, the clerk claims, the Legislature always intended the trial courts in criminal cases to have control over the bonds, and never intended cash bail bonds to be within the scope of section 117.002. The State, on the other hand, claims that the amendment exempts cash bail bonds only from the automatic reporting and delivery requirement and does not affect the remainder of section 117.002. We conclude that the statute's language and history, the statutory framework, and the bill analysis for the 1997 amendment, support the State's position. Under the Property Code, holders are required to annually report and deliver abandoned property to the comptroller. See TEX. PROP.CODE §§ 74.101, 74.301. Under the Local Government Code, however, payment from registry funds must be made  under an order of the court ... in which the funds were deposited. TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 117.053(b) (emphasis added). Thus, before the Legislature enacted section 117.002, it was unclear whether court clerks could transfer abandoned funds to the State without a court order. In 1991, the Legislature added section 117.002 to the Local Government Code. That section provided that registry funds presumed abandoned under the Property Code shall be reported and delivered... without further action by any court. See Act of May 7, 1991, 72 nd Leg., R.S., ch. 153, § 26, 1991 Tex. Gen. Laws 750, codified as amended at TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 117.002 (emphasis added). Thus, the Legislature made clear that the clerk's duty to report and deliver abandoned funds was automatic and did not require a court order. In 1997, however, the Legislature perceived an apparent conflict between the 1991 automatic transfer provision and article 17.02 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides for the refund of cash bail bonds upon order of the court. See HOUSE COMMITTEE ON COUNTY AFFAIRS, 75th Leg., Bill Analysis for H.B. 2769, at 1 (April 2, 1997). Accordingly, the Legislature amended section 117.002. The amendment's purpose was not to entirely exempt abandoned cash bail bonds from transfer to the State, but to exempt cash bail bonds from transfer of unclaimed funds ... until released by the court. Id. (emphasis added). Nothing in the amendment's express language or legislative history indicates an intent to exempt cash bail bonds from the statute's dormancy provisions. If the Legislature's intent was to exempt cash bail bonds from the entire section, it could have clearly so provided. Moreover, the clerk's argument that the dormancy period should not commence until the court releases the bonds is inconsistent with the purposes of Chapter 74 of the Property Code. Typically, cash bail bonds are only ordered released when the defendant takes some affirmative action, such as presenting a motion or a copy of the final judgment to the appropriate county official. Absent some action by the defendant, the funds remain in the court's registry. If a court order was required for the dormancy period to commence, as the clerk proposes, the dormancy period would never begin to run for bonds that were unclaimed, and they would remain in the court's registry in perpetuity. Such a result would thwart the intent underlying Chapter 74, which is to return abandoned property to its rightful owner. We agree with the court of appeals that the 1997 amendment relates only to the automatic reporting and delivery requirement, and does not affect the dormancy provision. See 970 S.W.2d at 150. Thus, we hold that the three-year dormancy period for unclaimed cash bail bonds begins to run on the date of the final judgment or order of dismissal in the underlying criminal prosecution.