I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5847 
To abolish civil asset forfeiture to the Federal Government. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 10, 2014 
Mr. STOCKMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To abolish civil asset forfeiture to the Federal Government. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fifth Amendment Res-
toration Act of 2014’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Civil asset forfeiture is the seizure of pri-
vate property by the government without due process 
of law. Law enforcement officers routinely seize 
money, financial assets and possessions simply by 
asserting their intuition or belief that the assets or 
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property are connected to some (often unspecified) 
illegal activity. 
(2) The burden of proof in asset forfeiture pro-
ceedings is placed entirely on the owner to prove his 
innocence, instead of the government to prove guilt. 
(3) Seized property is often not returned, even 
if the owner is never convicted of a crime. Property 
is often seized without even charging owners with a 
crime. 
(4) Many people cannot afford to fight in court 
to restore rightful ownership of their property. 
(5) Instead of returning property to its rightful 
owners, police and agencies often retain seized prop-
erty for their own use, or sell seized property and 
keep the income, creating a vested incentive to seize 
property for salaries, vehicles, and perks, giving rise 
to the euphemism, ‘‘policing for profit’’. 
(6) Courts of justice are the proper and legal 
venue to determine if property is stolen or used in 
the commission of a crime, not individual police offi-
cers or public officials. Stolen property should al-
ways be returned to its lawful owners, and not be-
come the property of police departments. 
(7) The Fifth Amendment of the United States 
Constitution states, ‘‘No person shall be . . . de-
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prived of life, liberty, or property, without due proc-
ess of law’’. 
(8) The abolition of civil asset forfeiture re-
stores the Fifth Amendment right to not be deprived 
of property without due process of law. 
SEC. 3. ABOLITION OF CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(c), no property may be forfeited or seized under any civil 
asset forfeiture law. 
(b) PROHIBITION
ON
ADOPTIVE
SEIZURES.—No 
Federal agency may participate in or benefit from any 
multiple-jurisdiction, ‘‘equitable sharing’’, or shared civil 
asset forfeiture program with any State or local govern-
ment, nor accept or adopt property seized by a State or 
local government. 
(c) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 
(1) CONTRABAND.—Nothing in this Act shall 
prohibit the forfeiture or seizure of contraband, in-
cluding anything prohibited by law from being im-
ported or exported, and nothing in this Act shall 
prohibit the forfeiture or seizure of anything the 
possession of which is a crime. 
(2) CRIMINAL SEIZURES.—Nothing in this Act 
shall prohibit the forfeiture or seizure of property if 
the owner of that property has first been convicted 
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of a criminal offense that makes the property sub-
ject to forfeiture or seizure. 
(d) REMEDY
FOR
PROPERTY
NOT
LAWFULLY 
SEIZED.—Property unlawfully seized in violation of this 
Act shall be restored to the owner of that property with 
all deliberate speed. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE LAW.—The term 
‘‘civil asset forfeiture law’’ means any provision of 
Federal law providing for the seizure or forfeiture of 
property other than as a sentence imposed upon con-
viction for a criminal offense. 
(2) PROPERTY.—The term ‘‘property’’ includes 
anything owned by a person or entity including real 
property and personal property including financial 
assets and commonly held property owned by more 
than one person. 
Æ 
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