I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1658
To provide a more just and uniform procedure for Federal civil forfeitures,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 4, 1999
Mr. HYDE (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. BARR of Georgia, Mr. FRANK of
Massachusetts, Mr. BACHUS, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr.
BROWN
of Ohio, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CRANE, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr.
CUNNINGHAM, Mr. EWING, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. FOLEY, Mr.
GILLMOR, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HOLDEN, Mrs. JONES of
Ohio, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. MARTINEZ, Ms. NORTON,
Ms. RIVERS, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina,
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To provide a more just and uniform procedure for Federal
civil forfeitures, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Civil Asset Forfeiture
Reform Act’’.
it shall return the property and may not take any further
action to effect the forfeiture of such property.
‘‘(2)(A) Any person claiming property seized in a
nonjudicial forfeiture proceeding may file a claim with the
appropriate official after the seizure.
‘‘(B) A claim under subparagraph (A) may not be
filed later than 30 days after—
‘‘(i) the date of final publication of notice of
seizure; or
‘‘(ii) in the case of a person entitled to written
notice, the date that notice is received.
‘‘(C) The claim shall state the claimant’s interest in
the property.
‘‘(D) Not later than 90 days after a claim has been
filed, the Attorney General shall file a complaint for for-
feiture in the appropriate court or return the property,
except that a court in the district in which the complaint
will be filed may extend the period for filing a complaint
for good cause shown or upon agreement of the parties.
‘‘(E) If the government does not file a complaint for
forfeiture of property in accordance with subparagraph
(D), it shall return the property and may not take any
further action to effect the forfeiture of such property.
‘‘(F) Any person may bring a claim under subpara-
graph (A) without posting bond with respect to the prop-
erty which is the subject of the claim.
‘‘(3)(A) In any case where the Government files in
the appropriate United States district court a complaint
for forfeiture of property, any person claiming an interest
in the seized property may file a claim asserting such per-
son’s interest in the property within 30 days of service
of the Government’s complaint or, where applicable, within
30 days of alternative publication notice.
‘‘(B) A person asserting an interest in seized property
in accordance with subparagraph (A) shall file an answer
to the Government’s complaint for forfeiture within 20
days of the filing of the claim.
‘‘(4)(A) If the person filing a claim is financially un-
able to obtain representation by counsel, the court may
appoint counsel to represent that person with respect to
the claim.
‘‘(B) In determining whether to appoint counsel to
represent the person filing the claim, the court shall take
into account such factors as—
‘‘(i) the claimant’s standing to contest the for-
feiture; and
‘‘(ii) whether the claim appears to be made in
good faith or to be frivolous.
‘‘(C) The court shall set the compensation for that
representation, which shall be equivalent to that provided
for court-appointed representation under section 3006A of
this title, and to pay such cost there are authorized to
be appropriated such sums as are necessary as an addition
to the funds otherwise appropriated for the appointment
of counsel under such section.
‘‘(5) In all suits or actions brought under any civil
forfeiture statute for the civil forfeiture of any property,
the burden of proof is on the United States Government
to establish, by clear and convincing evidence, that the
property is subject to forfeiture.
‘‘(6)(A) An innocent owner’s interest in property
shall not be forfeited under any civil forfeiture statute.
‘‘(B) With respect to a property interest in existence
at the time the illegal conduct giving rise to forfeiture took
place, the term ‘innocent owner’ means an owner who—
‘‘(i) did not know of the conduct giving rise to
forfeiture; or
‘‘(ii) upon learning of the conduct giving rise to
the forfeiture, did all that reasonably could be ex-
pected under the circumstances to terminate such
use of the property.
‘‘(C) With respect to a property interest acquired
after the conduct giving rise to the forfeiture has taken
place, the term ‘innocent owner’ means a person who, at
the time that person acquired the interest in the property,
was—
‘‘(i)(I) a bona fide purchaser or seller for value
(including a purchaser or seller of goods or services
for value); or
‘‘(II) a person who received an interest in prop-
erty through probate; and
‘‘(ii) at the time of the purchase or receipt rea-
sonably without cause to believe that the property
was subject to forfeiture.
‘‘(D) Where the property subject to forfeiture is real
property, and the claimant uses the property as the claim-
ant’s primary residence and is the spouse or minor child
of the person who committed the offense giving rise to the
forfeiture, an otherwise valid innocent owner claim shall
not be denied on the ground that the claimant acquired
the interest in the property—
‘‘(i) in the case of a spouse, through dissolution
of marriage or by operation of law, or
‘‘(ii) in the case of a minor child, as an inherit-
ance upon the death of a parent,
and not through a purchase. However, the claimant must
establish, in accordance with subparagraph (C), that at
the time of the acquisition of the property interest, the
claimant was reasonably without cause to believe that the
property was subject to forfeiture.
‘‘(7) For the purposes of paragraph (6)—
‘‘(A) ways in which a person may show that
such person did all that reasonably can be expected
may include demonstrating that such person, to the
extent permitted by law—
‘‘(i) gave timely notice to an appropriate
law enforcement agency of information that led
the person to know the conduct giving rise to
a forfeiture would occur or has occurred; and
‘‘(ii) in a timely fashion revoked or at-
tempted to revoke permission for those engag-
ing in such conduct to use the property or took
reasonable actions in consultation with a law
enforcement agency to discourage or prevent
the illegal use of the property; and
‘‘(B) in order to do all that can reasonably be
expected, a person is not required to take steps that
the person reasonably believes would be likely to
subject any person (other than the person whose
conduct gave rise to the forfeiture) to physical dan-
ger.
‘‘(8) As used in this subsection:
‘‘(1) The term ‘civil forfeiture statute’ means
any provision of Federal law (other than the Tariff
Act of 1930 or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986)
providing for the forfeiture of property other than as
a sentence imposed upon conviction of a criminal of-
fense.
‘‘(2) The term ‘owner’ means a person with an
ownership interest in the specific property sought to
be forfeited, including a leasehold, lien, mortgage,
recorded security device, or valid assignment of an
ownership interest. Such term does not include—
‘‘(i) a person with only a general unse-
cured interest in, or claim against, the property
or estate of another;
‘‘(ii) a bailee unless the bailor is identified
and the bailee shows a colorable legitimate in-
terest in the property seized; or
‘‘(iii) a nominee who exercises no dominion
or control over the property.
‘‘(k)(1) A claimant under subsection (j) is entitled to
immediate release of seized property if—
‘‘(A) the claimant has a possessory interest in
the property;
‘‘(B) the continued possession by the United
States Government pending the final disposition of
SEC. 5. PREJUDGMENT AND POSTJUDGMENT INTEREST.
Section 2465 of title 28, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(a)’’ before ‘‘Upon’’; and
(2) adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b) INTEREST.—
‘‘(1) POST-JUDGMENT.—Upon entry of judg-
ment for the claimant in any proceeding to condemn
or forfeit property seized or arrested under any Act
of Congress, the United States shall be liable for
post-judgment interest as set forth in section 1961
of this title.
‘‘(2) PRE-JUDGMENT.—The United States shall
not be liable for prejudgment interest, except that in
cases involving currency, other negotiable instru-
ments, or the proceeds of an interlocutory sale, the
United States shall disgorge to the claimant any
funds representing—
‘‘(A) interest actually paid to the United
States from the date of seizure or arrest of the
property that resulted from the investment of
the property in an interest-bearing account or
instrument; and
‘‘(B) for any period during which no inter-
est is actually paid, an imputed amount of in-
terest that such currency, instruments, or pro-