DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Iowa Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill that would add restrictions to how authorities can seize money and other items from people suspected of illegal activity.
The bill comes amid efforts around the country to reform a system known as civil asset forfeiture, which critics say can undermine a citizen’s judicial rights.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 49-0 for the bill. It now heads to the GOP-led House, and it must clear procedural votes this week to survive a looming legislative deadline.
Civil asset forfeiture is a legal process that allows law enforcement to take money or property from a person suspected of illegal activity. In Iowa, authorities can keep the items regardless of a conviction. The bill would require seized cash or property to be returned if it’s valued at less than $5,000 and there’s no conviction.
Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, spoke in favor of the bill. He said it was aimed at protecting property owners, and later noted similar action in other statehouses.
“We want to protect the constitutional right of every person to due process and want to make sure that the burden is on law enforcement and on prosecutors to prove a person’s guilt and not on an innocent property owner to prove their innocence,” he said.
An earlier version of the bill proposed returning cash or property if it’s valued at less than $15,000. Schneider said it was lowered to appease some groups.
There were more than 820 cases of cash forfeiture during the budget year that ended in 2016 and it totaled $2.6 million, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. The bulk of the cases were below $5,000, and the average value of a cash forfeiture was $3,217.
Pete McRoberts with the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa said he was happy the Legislature was taking on the issue. He called Iowa’s forfeiture system one of the worst in the country.
“Anything that guarantees due process rights for people is a step in the right direction,” he said of the amended proposal.
The bill was modeled after legislation passed in Ohio this year. New Mexico passed a law last year that ended the practice altogether, requiring convictions in all instances of seizure.
Wesley Hottot is an attorney for the libertarian nonprofit Institute for Justice, which tracks the issue. He said states should try to replicate New Mexico’s criminal conviction requirement. States like Ohio with certain dollar amount limits may incentivize law enforcement to seize more in order to reach an arbitrary threshold.
“Why should someone who has had $15,001 seized from them have fewer rights than a person who has had $14,999 seized from them?” he said.
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