On behalf of our activist community in Pennsylvania, I urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to support the Senate Bill 8, introduced by Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon). This bill, which passed the state Senate in April, would transform current civil asset forfeiture procedure in Pennsylvania to better protect private property and due process.
On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and strongly encourage him or her to cosponsor the Deterring Undue Enforcement by Protecting Rights of Citizens from Excessive Searches and Seizures (DUE PROCESS) Act, H.R. 1795, introduced by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.). The DUE PROCESS Act includes changes to federal forfeiture laws that fail to protect innocent Americans.
On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and representatives and ask them to cosponsor the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, S. 642 and H.R. 1555, introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). The FAIR Act would reform federal civil asset forfeiture laws to increase the evidentiary standard needed to subject property to permanent seizure and restore the presumption of innocence in federal civil forfeiture proceedings.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a blog post up today with a headline which reads: "Forfeiture: Georgia was once one of the worst. Now? It’s not so bad." Sounds great. When did the Georgia General Assembly pass legislation to improve the forfeiture law in the state by requiring more protections for innocent property owners? Well, it hasn't.
On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community in Texas, I urge you to contact your senators and urge him or her to support SB 380, introduced by State Sen. Konni Burton (R-Ft. Worth), which would reform the Lone Star State’s civil asset forfeiture laws.
Following the signing of HB 347, which reforms Ohio’s civil asset forfeiture laws to protect the rights of innocent property owners, by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:
The Ohio Legislature recently joined the growing ranks of states to pass civil asset forfeiture reform. More than a year in the making, both chambers passed, by overwhelming margins, House Bill 347, which, in most instances, requires a criminal conviction for the state to permanently seize property from an individual.
This op-ed was jointly authored by Adam Brandon of FreedomWorks, Timothy Head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.
A new poll from the Coalition For Public Safety shows a majority of Ohio voters support justice reform. The sentiment is shared by Ohioans of all stripes, including a significant number of those in the Statehouse, as evidenced by the support and passage in the Ohio House of House Bill 347 -- a bill that would end the practice of seizing private property from individuals who are suspected (but not convicted) of having taken part in a crime. The bill has yet to pass the Ohio Senate.