REVISED
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS28516 / S1119
County sheriff and city police departments are required by law to keep unclaimed property for 6 months before
the item can be auctioned or destroyed. For bicycles, the law requires 90 days. This legislation shortens the
timeline for unclaimed property to 90 days and bicycles to 60 days. Most of the time items of actual value
that are truly lost and found by police are collected in days or weeks by their owners while the large bulk of
unclaimed (and generally low value property) sits on shelves waiting to be disposed of at a cost to the county and
cities managing this property. Shortening Idaho’s timeline for retaining lost/abandoned and/or unclaimed found
property to match other states would mean cities and counties spend less money and time storing unclaimed
property and bicycles. As an added benefit, items that do have value can go to auction sooner so that the city
or county can recoup some of their costs.
FISCAL NOTE
There is no impact to the state budget. This would save cities and counties money.
Contact:
Senator Doug Ricks, Senator
(208) 332-1000
Murphy Olmstead
Sheriff's Association
(208) 871-3885
DISCLAIMER: This statement of purpose and fiscal note are a mere attachment to this bill and prepared by a proponent
of the bill. It is neither intended as an expression of legislative intent nor intended for any use outside of the legislative
process, including judicial review (Joint Rule 18).
Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Note Bill SOP/FN REVISED: 02/16/2021, 1:24 PM


Statutes affected:
Bill Text: 55-403