Asset Forfeiture Reform Bills Hit The House And Senate

[flacaltenn]

Only a corrupt government would conspire with itself to rob it's citizens of their property without due process. Support the Bills.

The first round of legislation to get us out of this boggle was back in 99.

Asset Forfeiture Reform, Drug Decriminalization News

The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 1999, a bill sponsored by Reps. Henry Hyde (R-IL), John Conyers (D-MI), Bob Barr (R-GA) and Barney Frank (D-MA), sailed through the House of Representatives by a 375-48 margin at 5:05pm on June 24.

"This is the most important property-rights legislation to come out of the House this year," said Drug Policy Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Scott Ehlers. "Americans are a step closer to being protected from some of the worst abuses of police power."

H.R. 1658, as passed by the House, would make numerous changes to civil forfeiture law, including:

* Forcing the government to prove that seized property is related to a crime, as opposed to the current practice of the owners' having to prove that their property is not guilty; * Creating an "innocent owner" defense, whereby property owners unaware of criminal activity occurring on their property could recover their property;
* Providing indigent defendants with appointed counsel; and

* Eliminating the cost-bond requirement, which currently requires property owners to pay up to $5,000 or 10 percent of the seized property's value in order to contest the seizure in court.

On June 24, 1999, the House passed H.R. 1658 (Hyde-Conyers civil forfeiture
reform bill) by a vote of 375-48. On June 28, 1999, the measure was referred to the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
Following the incorporation of some of the provisions in S. 1701, S. 1931
amended H.R. 1658 which passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a voice vote on
March 23, 2000. The full Senate passed the compromise version of H.R. 1658 by
voice vote on March 27, 2000.

The Senate wiener-out and passed it by voice vote, but it had some hefty support from both parties. There were enough Civil Libertarians to get it done. Although Hyde, Conyers, and Barr had to whack the House with a 2 by 4 to get their attention..

It's just another example of Congress wanting to do the sexy stuff and not bothering with the important stuff..