Lawmakers announced a comprehensive civil asset forfeiture reform bill this week during a press conference at the Statehouse in Columbia following The Greenville News’ TAKEN investigation.

So far, 93 out of 123 House members have co-sponsored the legislation, including House Judiciary Committee Chair Peter McCoy, who will decide whether to schedule a subcommittee hearing.

The bill, called the Asset Forfeiture and Private Property Protection Act, H 3968, was introduced in the House on Tuesday and referred to the House Judiciary committee.

Its most fundamental reform would eliminate civil forfeiture altogether, creating instead a system of criminal forfeiture. If a person is found guilty of a felony that includes forfeiture as a punishment, their forfeiture case would be tried after the criminal conviction.

More:A 'historic event': Thanking TAKEN series, 71 SC legislators unveil bipartisan push to reform civil forfeiture

That change, reform advocates say, would eliminate forfeiture cases where law enforcement seize property without filing a criminal case or seeking to prosecute a person or cases where police seize cash but only charge a person with a misdemeanor drug possession.

The reform bill would still allow law enforcement to seize property from suspects when investigating a criminal case.

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The reform bill as introduced would make numerous other changes to the forfeiture system in the state, as explained by Lee McGrath, an attorney who specializes in civil asset forfeiture as a member of the Institute for Justice, an advocacy law firm focused on private property rights.

More transparency

The state would be required to maintain public records of any seized property, and law enforcement would be required to submit at least annual reports to the Office of the Attorney General to report seizures and forfeiture cases.

Closes federal loophole

In some states that reformed state forfeiture law, such as North Carolina and Missouri, a loophole allowed local agencies to “adopt” out cases to federal agencies that would prosecute the case in federal court and share up to 80 percent of the revenue with the local department. Other times, local agencies would work with federal agencies to create joint task forces with forfeiture proceeds shared between the agencies.

The change in this bill would limit sharing of cases to ones that are complex enough to truly require federal assistance. Cases involving more than $50,000 that also involve interstate commerce of drugs, ones involving more than one state or cases where seized property would only be forfeitable under federal, not state, laws, would still be allowed.

No more policing for profit

The bill would remove the built-in incentive for police to seize property, regardless of a criminal case, since police directly benefit from revenue from forfeiture. Instead, all forfeiture revenue to the Office of the Treasurer to put into the state’s general fund.

Currently, police receive the largest benefit from forfeiture. In most locations, police keep the first $1,000 of any forfeiture and 75 percent of the remainder of the profit. Prosecutors keep 20 percent and the remaining 5 percent is deposited into the state’s general fund.

Reform advocates say the setup gives law enforcement an incentive to seize property, especially in questionable cases. The Greenville News' TAKEN investigation found that in 19 percent of forfeiture cases over a three-year period, no related criminal charge could be found. In nearly 800 cases where a criminal charge was filed, there was no criminal conviction. But since forfeiture cases are handled separate from criminal cases, people still often lost their property to the police.

Law enforcement cannot retain forfeited property for its own use and cannot sell it to an employee, employees’ family or other law enforcement agencies.

More:Every story in the TAKEN civil forfeiture investigation

Protection for property owner

A forfeiture filing must be accompanied by a related criminal charge, according to the bill. Prosecutors wouldn’t be allowed to hold cases for months or years before filing for forfeiture. The TAKEN investigation found that on average, prosecutors waited 17 months to file a civil forfeiture case after property was seized.

If a person believes property was seized unlawfully, or the police stop or investigation that lead to the seizure was unlawful, they can ask for a pretrial hearing to determine whether the seizure was lawful.

A property owner could post bond before the forfeiture case is heard in order to receive access to their property before the trial. For instance, if police seized a vehicle, a person could post bond so they could get the vehicle returned for use before their trial, McGrath said.

A defendant or an interested party may petition to the Attorney General to have their property returned up to 60 days before their criminal trial. This language would give an option, especially for indigent property owners, to seek their property’s return based on financial hardship,

Protection for innocent owners

A property owner whose cash or vehicle was used against their permission or without their knowledge to commit criminal acts could seek its return during a pretrial hearing, according to the bill.

The burden of proof would shift from the owner to the state to show by preponderance of evidence that the owner had knowledge the property was being used for a criminal act.

Petition against excessive punishment

A property owner may petition the court to decide whether the forfeiture punishment was unconstitutionally excessive compared to the crime committed, according to the bill.

Incidentally, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case in November 2018 that may limit the amount of fines or forfeiture punishment states can order.

Police must give itemized receipts

When police seize property, an officer must provide an itemized receipt at the time the property is taken, according to the bill.

Substitute property

The state can go after substitute property if it can show by preponderance of the evidence that people transferred or hid property to avoid its forfeiture, according to the bill.

If approved, South Carolina would have one of the strongest forfeiture laws in the country, matching New Mexico, which abolished civil forfeiture in 2015, McGrath said.