85S11970 KSM-F
	By: Anchia	H.C.R. No. 31

	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, Civil asset forfeiture is a process by which a
	local, state, or federal law enforcement agency can seize or
	confiscate a person's property, under the guise that it constitutes
	proceeds of a crime or was instrumental in the commission of a
	crime, without having to convict the person of a crime as the
	process is considered a civil rather than a criminal action; and
	WHEREAS, Since September 2001, state and local law
	enforcement authorities, under the auspices of the Equitable
	Sharing Program, have taken in over $2.5 billion through more than
	62,000 cash seizures from people who were not charged with a crime;
	and
	WHEREAS, Since 2007, the United States Drug Enforcement
	Agency has seized more than $4 billion in cash from people suspected
	of involvement in drug activity, but 81 percent of those seizures,
	totaling approximately $3.2 billion, were conducted
	administratively with no civil or criminal charges brought against
	the owners of the property, and no judicial review of the seizures
	ever occurred; and
	WHEREAS, In the last 10 years, the U.S. Department of Justice
	Asset Forfeiture Fund, which collects proceeds from seized cash and
	other property, has ballooned to $28 billion, and in 2016 alone,
	authorities seized $2 billion, with nearly $100 million of that
	deposited from the State of Texas; and
	WHEREAS, In too many cases, current federal asset forfeiture
	laws create a financial incentive for the pursuit of profit over the
	fair administration of justice, facilitate the circumvention of
	state laws intended to protect citizens from abuse, encourage the
	violation of due process and property rights of Americans, and
	disproportionately impact people of color and those with modest
	means; and
	WHEREAS, Victims of civil asset forfeiture must prove their
	own innocence or the innocence of their property in order to get
	their property back, turning the presumption of innocence on its
	head; and
	WHEREAS, Addressing civil asset forfeiture in its Interim
	Report to the 85th Texas Legislature, the Senate Committee on
	Criminal Justice found that "when abuse of forfeiture does occur,
	the average individual cannot readily defend their property in
	court; attorney costs, low evidentiary standards, and the
	difficulty of asserting the innocent owner defense together place
	an undue burden on individuals attempting to defend their
	property"; and
	WHEREAS, The interim report goes on to state that "the taking
	of private property demands the utmost scrutiny.  Divorced from all
	financial incentives, agencies possess a duty to provide a direct
	tie to criminal activity for each occurrence of forfeiture,
	requiring an accompanying increase in evidentiary standard to clear
	and convincing from preponderance of the evidence, a standard
	reserved for civil matters"; and
	WHEREAS, Despite its use by law enforcement to attack the
	financial incentive for crime, the current process for civil
	forfeitures leaves citizens without several vital protections
	afforded to them in criminal proceedings; and
	WHEREAS, On July 19, 2017, United States Attorney General
	Jeff Sessions issued an order further authorizing Department of
	Justice components and agencies to forfeit assets seized by state
	or local law enforcement; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas,
	1st Called Session, hereby call for the reversal of the order issued
	on July 19, 2017, by the United States attorney general and for the
	repeal of the civil asset forfeiture program; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the civil asset forfeiture program be replaced
	with a process of criminal asset forfeiture that requires:
	(1)  the conviction of a crime subject to forfeiture to
	be obtained prior to forfeiture of the property;
	(2)  an increase in the evidentiary standard to clear
	and convincing from preponderance of the evidence;
	(3)  the prohibition of the forfeiture of homestead
	properties, motor vehicles valued at less than $10,000, and
	currency totaling less than $200;
	(4)  the establishment of procedures for a
	proportionality hearing to determine whether the forfeiture is
	unconstitutionally excessive in proportion to the alleged crime;
	and
	(5)  the speedy return of property to its rightful
	owner when charges are dropped or the owner is acquitted, as well as
	when the court determines that an owner has a bona fide security
	interest; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the U.S. Congress be urged to pass
	comprehensive and effective civil asset forfeiture reform; and, be
	it further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
	the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
	Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
	members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
	this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.