COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The South Carolina House has given key approval to a bill to create a searchable database of property seized by police.
The House voted 104-6 to approve the bill requiring the State Law Enforcement Division to keep the database. It faces one more routine vote before it is sent to the Senate.
Lawmakers did make one change to the bill, saying a criminal charge is needed before police can take money or other assets.
A second bill overhauling South Carolina laws on forfeiture is in a House committee.
The bills were prompted by a series of stories by The Greenville News that detailed $17 million taken from people in South Carolina from 2014 to 2016. The report said 65 percent of those targeted for civil asset forfeiture were black men.
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