COLUMBIA – As a morning Statehouse crowd milled about, some visitors waiting for a tour, lobbyists waiting to nudge legislators toward their clients' direction, Rep. Alan Clemmons stepped to a podium set up in the middle of the second-floor lobby.

He called this a historic event, a large bipartisan group of legislators, several who had worked in the legal system, pledging support as co-sponsors to reform a practice that until recently was little understood or even known to many South Carolina residents.

As he opened his remarks to announce a bill to reform civil asset forfeiture in South Carolina — a practice which allows law enforcement to seize property from residents, sometimes without charging or convicting them of a crime, and then profit from the proceeds to boost budgets and fight crime — he said the group stands with law enforcement, crime shouldn’t pay, and law enforcement should have the ability to seize property they believe to be illegally obtained.

“We, however, also stand with the presumption of innocent until proven guilty,” said Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach. “We also stand for the presumption of the sanctity of property rights.”

He announced a bill, backed by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council that Clemmons has previously chaired, to fundamentally change the way civil forfeiture cases are handled in the state. At its heart, he said, the bill would enable a person to not lose their property to police unless they were convicted of a crime.

Then the Republican turned the podium over to a Democratic colleague, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, whom he hailed as the longest-serving black House member in the state.

“I know some of you are saying, ‘Oh my god, has hell frozen over? Cobb-Hunter is supporting something that ALEC is supporting,” said Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who is president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, which also favors forfeiture reform. “Wonders never cease. It’s a great day in South Carolina.”

More:What's in the TAKEN civil forfeiture investigation: Table of contents

She called it fundamentally an issue of fairness, saying someone who has not been convicted of a crime should not lose their property.

She said she knows some small towns count on revenue from forfeiture to furnish police units with seized property.

“I am pleased to stand with this bipartisan group, Democrats as well as Republicans, African-Americans as well as whites, to say we have come together on this issue to say enough is enough in South Carolina. We are going to stand for the citizens of this state.”

The bill, introduced to the House on Wednesday, will be assigned to the House Judiciary Committee, where Clemmons said he hopes it will be given a speedy hearing.

So far, 71 House members have signed on as co-sponsors. That’s enough votes to pass the bill out of the House. All 15 members of the Greenville County Legislative Delegation signed as co-sponsors.

More:8 ways SC can enact fairer laws on civil forfeiture

“It’s about time,” said Rep. Gary Clary, R-Pickens, a retired judge with 45 years legal experience who has presided over forfeiture cases.

“I have spent a career protecting the rights of individuals, and coming here to the Statehouse has been no different,” Clary said. “I believe in individual rights and individual liberties, and this is one of the most important pieces of legislation that we are going to consider in this session.”

Clary and others credited The Greenville News and Anderson Independent Mail's TAKEN investigation with creating a climate to address the unfairness civil forfeiture presents to citizens.

This kind of in-depth investigative journalism takes time and money. Help us bring more stories like TAKEN to South Carolina by subscribing to The Greenville News. Support the journalists behind TAKEN: Try this special introductory offer.

“This is exactly what we’re talking about when we talk about the free press, shining a light on something that has been swept under the rug and has been truly abused for too long,” he said.

TAKEN Episode 1: How police departments make millions by seizing property

The TAKEN team spent two years documenting every civil asset forfeiture case from 2014 to 2016 in the state — more than 3,200 cases involving more than 4,000 people — to show police had seized more than $17 million from people. Most of that cash ended up in the hands of police, and reform advocates say that creates an incentive for police to seek profit from forfeiture.

The investigation found that in 19 percent of cases no one was charged with a related crime, and in nearly 20 percent of cases someone was charged with a crime but not convicted.

House Majority Whip Rep. Russell Fry, R-Surfside Beach, said at the core of society the law is an equalizer — but not so in civil forfeiture in South Carolina.

“When the government takes your money and your assets, the burden is on you,” he said. “That is something that we need to fundamentally change in this state.”

House Minority Leader Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, a former assistant solicitor and drug case prosecutor, said the most unfair cases are the ones where police seize smaller amounts of cash. Because of the way the civil court process is structured, it is difficult for people to fight for their money, even if they believe it is legally theirs, the investigation found.

More:Got the receipt? It could be key to recovering items seized by cops

“There are very few things as repugnant, as abhorrent as the government being able to take someone’s money and making them fight to get it back,” Rutherford said.

Rep. Jason Elliott, R-Greenville, said as a former prosecutor in Greenville and Anderson he respects law enforcement and prosecutors, and he said reform will increase confidence in law enforcement and provide transparency for the public.

And Cezar McKnight, D-Williamsburg, a trial lawyer, said virtually every week someone comes into his office and describes how their property was seized and how they want to get it back.

“It’s not the big money that’s the greatest travesty,” he said. “It’s the small seizures that’s $3,000-$4,000, and it’s not cost-effective for a citizen to hire a lawyer to go into court and get the money back.”

Since the early 1980s when states began to use civil forfeiture as a tool for police to fight the war on drugs, it has morphed from its original intent because police departments now use the law oftentimes to target small cases, not drug traffickers, reform advocates have said.

More than 55 percent of the time in cases The Greenville News examined as part of its TAKEN investigation, police seized less than $1,000.

The petty cash adds up for police, though. In all, police seized more than $17 million from people from 2014 to 2016, the investigation found.

Forfeiture has become a means to boost revenue for police, not to strip money from criminal enterprises, McKnight said.

“It’s not about justice,” he said. “It’s about police departments and other agencies using that money as a cash cushion for them. That must end.”

More:What to do if you’re pulled over and the cops want to take your cash

Clemmons said the bill, titled Civil Asset Forfeiture and Private Protection Act, still has a way to go. He said he looks forward to hearing from police, prosecutors and others about civil forfeiture in the days ahead.

“Today, the push-back begins,” he said. If constituents want to see the law changed, they should contact their legislators to reinforce their commitment to the legislation, he said. Otherwise, some may peel away, he said.

As the Statehouse atrium filled with passersby who stopped to watch the announcement, Clemmons reflected on a day he said he was proud of because it brought legislators together in recognition of something they believe is un-American.

“It’s a historic day, and I’m honored to be a part of it,” he said.