US Congress House Bill 540 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: Introduced on January 27 2015 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2015-02-19 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
Pending: House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, And Investigations Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

FAIR Act Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act of 2015 This bill modifies general rules governing civil forfeiture proceedings to: (1) ensure that a person contesting a civil forfeiture has legal representation without regard to whether the property subject to forfeiture is being used by such person as a primary residence; (2) increase the federal government's burden of proof in civil forfeiture proceedings to clear and convincing evidence; (3) require the government, in addition to showing a substantial connection between the seized property and an offense, to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the owner of any interest in the seized property used the property with intent to facilitate the offense or knowingly consented or was willfully blind to the use of the property by another in connection with the offense; and (4) expand the proportionality criteria used by a court to determine whether a civil forfeiture was constitutionally excessive. To remove incentives for carrying out civil forfeitures, the bill requires proceeds from the disposition of seized property to be deposited into the General Fund of the Treasury, rather than to Department of Justice accounts for law enforcement activities. The bill adds a scienter requirement (i.e., a knowing violation) to the prohibition against structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements. The bill requires: (1) a court to conduct a probable cause hearing to determine if there is a violation of the prohibition against structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements involving a monetary instrument and to return such instrument if probable cause is not established, and (2) the Attorney General to specify in reports to Congress and the public on forfeitures the amounts received from criminal and civil forfeitures.

FAIR Act Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act of 2015

Rep. Tim Walberg [R-MI]	Rep. Tony Cardenas [D-CA]	Rep. Keith Ellison [D-MN]	Rep. Scott Garrett [R-NJ]
Rep. Tom McClintock [R-CA]	Rep. Eleanor Norton [D-DC]	Rep. Beto O'Rourke [D-TX]	Rep. Walter Jones [R-NC]
Rep. Steve Cohen [D-TN]	Rep. Rob Bishop [R-UT]	Rep. Renee Ellmers [R-NC]	Rep. Stevan Pearce [R-NM]
Rep. Raul Grijalva [D-AZ]	Rep. Reid Ribble [R-WI]	Rep. Peter DeFazio [D-OR]	Rep. Jackie Speier [D-CA]
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler [R-WA]	Rep. Don Young [R-AK]	Sen. Cynthia Lummis [R-WY]	Rep. Michael Conaway [R-TX]
Rep. John Moolenaar [R-MI]	Rep. Mike Bishop [R-MI]	Rep. Raul Labrador [R-ID]	Rep. Sam Farr [D-CA]
Rep. John Duncan [R-TN]	Rep. Ron DeSantis [R-FL]	Rep. Barbara Lee [D-CA]	Rep. Barry Loudermilk [R-GA]
Rep. Mark Pocan [D-WI]	Rep. Alcee Hastings [D-FL]	Rep. David Trott [R-MI]	Rep. Ted Lieu [D-CA]
Rep. Jim Jordan [R-OH]	Rep. Dan Newhouse [R-WA]	Rep. Mark Sanford [R-SC]	Rep. Paul Gosar [R-AZ]
Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY]	Rep. Grace Napolitano [D-CA]	Rep. Randy Forbes [R-VA]	Rep. David Rouzer [R-NC]
Rep. Brenda Lawrence [D-MI]	Rep. Alexander Mooney [R-WV]	Rep. Corrine Brown [D-FL]	Rep. David Joyce [R-OH]
Rep. Ted Yoho [R-FL]	Rep. Trent Franks [R-AZ]	Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA]	Rep. Jared Polis [D-CO]
Rep. Gerald Connolly [D-VA]	Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D-OH]	Rep. Bonnie Coleman [D-NJ]	Rep. Earl Carter [R-GA]
Rep. Judy Chu [D-CA]	Rep. Mark DeSaulnier [D-CA]	Rep. Curt Clawson [R-FL]	Rep. Glenn Grothman [R-WI]
Rep. Luke Messer [R-IN]	Rep. Jose Serrano [D-NY]	Rep. Charles Rangel [D-NY]	Rep. Peter Roskam [R-IL]
Rep. Donald Norcross [D-NJ]	Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D-IL]	Rep. Tom Cole [R-OK]	Rep. Gwen Moore [D-WI]
Rep. Jim Bridenstine [R-OK]	Rep. Steve Russell [R-OK]	Rep. Frank Lucas [R-OK]	Rep. Joe Wilson [R-SC]
Rep. Steven Palazzo [R-MS]	Sen. Markwayne Mullin [R-OK]	Rep. Michael Honda [D-CA]	Rep. Randy Hultgren [R-IL]
Rep. Bob Gibbs [R-OH]	Rep. David Roe [R-TN]	Sen. Marsha Blackburn [R-TN]	Rep. Todd Rokita [R-IN]
Rep. Jeb Hensarling [R-TX]	Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard [D-CA]	Rep. Randy Weber [R-TX]	Rep. Jeff Miller [R-FL]
Rep. Betty McCollum [D-MN]	Rep. Mick Mulvaney [R-SC]	Rep. Tom Emmer [R-MN]	Rep. Tim Ryan [D-OH]
Rep. Janice Hahn [D-CA]	Rep. Eric Crawford [R-AR]	Rep. Mark Takano [D-CA]	Rep. Bill Posey [R-FL]
Rep. Nydia Velazquez [D-NY]	Rep. Hakeem Jeffries [D-NY]	Rep. Don Beyer [D-VA]	Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D-NY]
Rep. Alan Grayson [D-FL]	Rep. Adrian Smith [R-NE]	Rep. Robert Brady [D-PA]

Date	Chamber	Action
2015-02-19	House	Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
2015-01-30	House	Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
2015-01-27	House	Referred to House Financial Services
2015-01-27	House	Referred to House Ways and Means
2015-01-27	House	Referred to House Energy and Commerce
2015-01-27	House	Referred to House Judiciary
2015-01-27	House	Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
2015-01-27	House	Introduced in House

SB255 (Same As) 2015-01-26 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/540/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr540/BILLS-114hr540ih.pdf