The law makes modest reforms to the state's civil asset forfeiture process, but leaves participation in a federal program that allows state and local police to circumvent more strict state forfeiture laws mostly in tact.
The legislation would restrict asset forfeiture to felony cases and would require a criminal conviction before prosecutors could proceed with the process in most cases.
A bill introduced in the West Virginia House would reform the state’s asset forfeiture process to require a conviction in most cases. The enactment of this bill would also take a step to opt the state out of a program that allows police to circumvent more strict state forfeiture laws by passing cases off to the feds.
A bill introduced in the Hawaii Senate would reform the state’s asset forfeiture process to require a conviction in most cases. The enactment of this bill would also effectively opt the state out of a program that allows police to circumvent more strict state forfeiture laws by passing cases off to the feds.
A bill introduced in the Colorado House would require a criminal conviction before the state could proceed with the asset forfeiture process in most cases. The enactment of this legislation would also further opt the state out of a program that allows police to circumvent more strict state forfeiture laws by passing cases off to the feds.