ACTION ITEM: HB 889 -Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act

[FCTP]

Credit: Liberty First Network

HB 889 prohibits forfeiture under Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act from being final until owner of seized property is convicted of criminal act that renders property contraband article. Most Floridians are unaware that assets may be seized absent of the owner being charged with a crime and possession may be permanently transferred without a conviction.

Law enforcement agencies may confiscate any property they allege is connected to a crime. Cash, cars, real estate, boats and other possessions may be seized and forfeited to the agency without a conviction. Florida scored a pathetic D+ rating on civil asset forfeiture according to a 2010 “Policing for Profit” nationwide study by the Institute for Injustice (a non-profit national advocacy law firm).

Civil forfeiture has become a revenue generation tool used by police to fund their own coffers. James Madison wrote that “Government is instituted to protect property of every sort". The use of Asset Forfeiture flies in the face of "due process" and the protections of private property guaranteed in the Constitution.

HB 889 will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday February 25th, 2016 at 1:00 PM

TAKE ACTION
Please call and e-mail the members of the House Judiciary Committee today

and tell them to support HB 889.

Full name and  Phone Numbers below

Burton, Colleen [phone]

Dudley, Dwight [phone]

Edwards, Katie A. [phone]

Fant, Jay [phone]

Gonzalez, Julio [phone]

Harrell, Gayle B. [phone]

Hudson, Matt [phone]

Kerner, Dave [phone]

McBurney, Charles [phone]

Metz, Larry [phone]

Moskowitz, Jared Evan [phone]

Passidomo, Kathleen C. [phone]

Plakon, Scott [phone]

Rehwinkel Vasilinda, Michelle [phone]

Rodríguez, José Javier [phone]

Stone, Charlie [phone]

Trujillo, Carlos [phone]

Wood, John [phone]

TO EMAIL:

COPY THE EMAILS BELOW AND PASTE TO YOUR SEND BOX TO EMAIL THE MEMBERS OF THIS COMMITTEE

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Bill Summary

General Bill by Criminal Justice Subcommittee and Metz and Caldwell (CO-SPONSORS) Renner

Contraband Forfeiture: Specifies that property may be seized only upon arrest of property owner for violation of criminal law that renders property contraband; requires that specified persons approve settlement; specifies nature of title interest in seized property; provides circumstances when property may be deemed contraband; specifies circumstances when court shall order forfeiture of seized property; provides circumstances for return of seized property to owner; requires agency seizing property to be responsible for costs in specified circumstances; requires various review procedures for seizure records held by seizing agency; prohibits compensation of law enforcement officers from being dependent on meeting seizure quota; requires adoption & implementation of written policies & training; provides reporting requirements for seized property for forfeiture; provides penalties for noncompliance with reporting requirements. "We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force." Ayn Rand