Austin, Tx.–Yesterday, Texas Republicans and Democrats joined together to send five bills reforming civil forfeiture to the full Texas House of Representatives. Over vociferous opposition from police and prosecutors, the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee passed HB 249, HB 472, HB 1012, HB 1975, and HB 3415.

“Texas stands on the verge of enacting significant changes to how Texas’ civil forfeiture laws operate,” said Matt Miller, managing attorney of the Texas Office of the Institute for Justice, a public-interest law firm that has litigated forfeiture cases across the country. “Earlier this year, the New Mexico legislature voted unanimously to pass sweeping civil forfeiture reforms, and the Montana legislature has voted unanimously to do the same.  Texas—which prides itself on its respect for private property—can enact similar reforms to better protect our citizens from civil forfeiture abuse.  Texas should seize the opportunity.

The bills address the growing problem of civil asset forfeiture, a once-arcane procedure under which police can seize and keep property without ever charging or convicting the owner of that property with any crime. The owners of seized property must pay for an attorney to intervene in the case in an effort to have their property returned.

The use of civil forfeiture has grown dramatically in recent decades to become a lucrative enterprise for police and prosecutors in Texas and around the country.

Recognizing the need to reform civil forfeiture in order to better protect property owners, a bi-partisan coalition of Republicans and Democrats have authored 14 bills this session to reform various aspects of civil forfeiture. Eight have had committee hearings.  Police and prosecutors have opposed every single one of them.

Two of the five that passed out of committee on Thursday (HB 1012 and HB 3415) were authored by Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg). HB 1975 was authored by Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler); HB 472 was authored by Rep. Phil Stephenson (R-Wharton); and HB 249 was authored by Rep. Jeff Leach (R-Plano).

Below is a short video explaining how Civil Forfeiture works.

 

If you would like to read a thorough explanation of Civil Asset Forfeiture and your state’s laws, then click HERE to download IJ Reviews “Policing For Profit“ pdf paper