Current Pennsylvania law allows police to seize property without due process or conviction of a crime. Civil asset forfeiture legally incentivizes policing for profit by allowing the police to keep 100 percent of the proceeds from seizures. This practice creates a conflict of interest for the authorities who benefit monetarily from seizing property.

On behalf of the FreedomWorks activist community in Pennsylvania, I urge you to support the amended version of Senate Bill 869, sponsored by state Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon). The bill reforms the Commonwealth’s civil asset forfeiture laws to provide more protections for innocent property owners.

The main principle behind civil asset forfeiture reform legislation introduced in both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly is widely embraced by voters in the Commonwealth, according to a survey released on Thursday. The legislation would require a criminal conviction before property can be forfeited to the state. Currently, a property owner does not even have to be charged with a crime before their property can subject to forfeiture.

Pennsylvania has one of the worst civil asset forfeiture laws in the country, in the country, but a recently introduced reform proposal would protect innocent people from this form of government overreach. Prosecutors in the Commonwealth are, however, aggressively trying to defend the pernicious practice, which is often used to go after property of law-abiding citizens.

This afternoon, Pennsylvania state Rep. Jim Cox (R-Sinking Spring) introduced HB 508, a bill that would offer protections for innocent property owners and restore due process in the Commonwealth. FreedomWorks strongly supports HB 508 and its companion bill in the Senate, SB 869, which was introduced earlier in June.

Pennsylvania’s long-awaited, all-encompassing civil asset forfeiture reform bill was introduced in the Senate in bipartisan fashion. Just before the bill was introduced, the Commonwealth's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union released a shocking study detailing the abuse of civil asset forfeiture by overzealous law enforcement and prosecutors in Philadelphia.

Christo Sourovelis was surprised, in May 2014, to find out that his 22-year-old son, Yanni, was selling $40 worth of drugs out of the family's suburban Philadelphia home. His son, who had never been in trouble before, was arrested and sentenced to a diversion program because of his status as a first-time offender. One would think that justice was served, with the young offender learning a valuable lesson and, hopefully, spared from being caught up in the system.