FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our bill of the month for July 2019 is the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act of 2019, H.R. 1895, introduced by Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). The FAIR Act would overhaul existing civil asset forfeiture rules by raising the evidentiary standard for seizing assets and restoring the presumption of innocence to federal civil asset forfeiture hearings.

In the state of Oklahoma, the police have the authority to seize your property prior to the conviction of a crime; civil asset forfeiture abuse is a serious threat to civil liberties including, private property rights and due process. The presumption that you are “innocent until proven guilty” is a fundamental element of the U.S. Constitution and should be protected at all costs. The practice of civil asset forfeiture is a tool used that too often negatively impacts innocent people who are merely suspected of illegal behavior.