Bill to Curtail Civil Forfeiture Advances in House Committee
The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill to overhaul civil forfeiture —the tool that law enforcement uses to confiscate personal property even if a person hasn’t been charged or convicted of a crime.
The Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act (H.R. 1525) would amend the law to “ensure fairness and due process for those whose property is seized and subjected to civil asset forfeiture.”
The FAIR Act implements several changes:
· Ensures that only federal courts can order civil forfeitures to the federal government.
· Places a “burden of proof” on the federal government to prove that the seized property was being used in relation to criminal activity.
· Ends the equitable sharing program that allows state and local police to call in federal agents to seize property and then share the proceeds.
· Protects innocent owners of property used by another person in relation to a crime.
· Sends funds to the U.S. Treasury’s general fund instead of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Treasury Asset Forfeiture Funds, which are spent outside the congressional appropriations process.
“With the FAIR Act’s unanimous passage at the Judiciary Committee, we have more momentum to not only pass this important bill in the House but pressure the Senate to take it up and get it to the President’s desk,” said co-sponsor Representative Tim Walberg (R-MI) in an email to the Washington Post.
“The lawless seizure and ‘forfeiture’ of people’s private property by police officers is becoming standard operating procedure in many parts of the country," said co-sponsor, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD). "We want to restore the presumption of innocence, fair judicial process, and the opportunity to be heard.
The legislation received support from a coalition of 15 groups including the Institute for Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the NAACP, who say the current system is “unjust on its face, has a disproportionate impact on poor and otherwise disadvantaged communities, and undermines public respect for law enforcement.”
Law Enforcement Agencies Voice Concerns
Local law enforcement agencies say the end of equitable sharing will not end the confiscation of property but will simply redirect it to the federal level.
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Deputy Director Brian Surber tells News9 in Oklahoma City, that the bill is based on misinformation.
“We’re not talking about your uncle’s bank account or taking anything like that. These false narratives and anecdotes that are not the experience. We’ve been through this before in Oklahoma and these allegations of these abuses of forfeiture and there’s anecdotes that never pan out like a lot of these reform efforts,” Deputy Director Surber said.
In addition, former federal prosecutor Stefan Cassella, now a consultant on civil asset forfeiture cases, wrote that Congress needs to understand that the same law it wants to change, is the law used to seize assets of sanctioned individuals, including Russian oligarchs and those connected to terrorism.
Cassella wrote that cases such as those “would be most profoundly affected by ill-conceived and overbroad legislation such as the FAIR Act.”