I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1835
To provide a more just and uniform procedure for Federal civil forfeitures.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 10, 1997
Mr. HYDE (for himself, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr.
STARK, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. CONYERS, Mr.
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. BARR of Georgia, Mrs. MEEK of Florida,
Mr. MARTINEZ, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. WICKER, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr.
MANZULLO, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. CLAY, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. FOGLI-
ETTA, Mr. PARKER, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. BROWN of Ohio,
Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BAKER, and Mr.
CUMMINGS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and
Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide a more just and uniform procedure for Federal
civil forfeitures.
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’’.
SEC. 2. CREATION OF GENERAL RULES RELATING TO CIVIL
FORFEITURE PROCEEDINGS.
Section 981 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended—
(1) by inserting after subsection (i) the follow-
ing:
‘‘(j)(1)(A) In any nonjudicial civil forfeiture proceed-
ing under a civil forfeiture statute, with respect to which
the agency conducting a seizure of property must give
written notice to interested parties, such notice shall be
given as soon as practicable and in no case more than 60
days after the later of the date of the seizure or the date
the identity of the interested party is first known or dis-
covered by the agency, except that the court may extend
the period for filing a notice for good cause shown.
‘‘(B) A person entitled to written notice in such pro-
ceeding to whom written notice is not given may on motion
void the forfeiture with respect to that person’s interest
in the property, unless the agency shows—
‘‘(i) good cause for the failure to give notice to
that person; or
‘‘(ii) that the person otherwise had actual notice
of the seizure.
‘‘(C) If the government does not provide notice of a
seizure of property in accordance with subparagraph (A),
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.
‘‘(5)(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 forfeiture has taken place,
the term ‘innocent owner’ means a person who, at the time
that person acquired the interest in the property, did not
know—
‘‘(i)(I) of the conduct giving rise to the forfeit-
ure; and
‘‘(II) that the property was involved in, or the
proceeds of, that conduct; or
‘‘(ii) that the Government was seeking forfeit-
ure of that property.
‘‘(6) For the purposes of paragraph (5) of this sub-
section—
‘‘(A) a person may show that such person did
all that reasonably can be expected, among other
ways, by demonstrating that such person, to the ex-
tent 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 permission
for those engaging in such conduct to use the
property or took reasonable actions in consulta-
tion with a law enforcement agency to discour-
age 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 the person to physical danger.
‘‘(7) As used in this section, the term ‘civil forfeiture
statute’ means any provision of Federal law providing for
the forfeiture of property other than as a sentence imposed
upon conviction of a criminal offense.
‘‘(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
forfeiture proceedings will cause substantial hard-
ship to the claimant, such as preventing the func-
tioning of a business, preventing an individual from
working, or leaving an individual homeless; and
‘‘(C) the claimant’s likely hardship from the
continued possession by the United States Govern-
ment of the seized property outweighs the risk that
the property will be destroyed, damaged, lost, con-
cealed, or transferred if it is returned to the claim-
ant during the pendency of the proceeding.
‘‘(2) A claimant seeking release of property under
this subsection must request possession of the property
from the appropriate official, and the request must set
forth the basis on which the requirements of paragraph
(1) are met.
‘‘(3) If within 10 days after the date of the request
the property has not been released, the claimant may file
a motion or complaint in any district court that would
have jurisdiction of forfeiture proceedings relating to the
property setting forth—
‘‘(A) the basis on which the requirements of
paragraph (1) are met; and
‘‘(B) the steps the claimant has taken to secure
release of the property from the appropriate official.
‘‘(4) If a motion or complaint is filed under para-
graph (3), the district court shall order that the property
be returned to the claimant, pending completion of pro-
ceedings by the United States Government to obtain for-
feiture of the property, if the claimant shows that the re-
quirements of paragraph (1) have been met. The court
may place such conditions on release of the property as
it finds are appropriate to preserve the availability of the
property or its equivalent for forfeiture.
‘‘(5) The district court shall render a decision on a
motion or complaint filed under paragraph (3) no later
than 30 days after the date of the filing, unless such 30-
day limitation is extended by consent of the parties or by
the court for good cause shown.’’; and
(2) by redesignating existing subsection (j) as
subsection (l).
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 28, TO
RULES OF PROCEDURE, AND TO THE CON-
TROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.
(a) USE OF ASSETS FORFEITURE FUND FOR ATTOR-
NEY FEES.—Section 524(c) of title 28, United States
Code, is amended—
(1) by striking out ‘‘law enforcement pur-
poses—’’ in the matter preceding subparagraph (A)
in paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘purposes—’’;
(2) by redesignating the final 3 subparagraphs
in paragraph (1) as subparagraphs (J), (K), and
(L), respectively;
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (G) of
paragraph (1) the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(H) payment of court-awarded compensation
for representation of claimants pursuant to section
981 of title 18;
‘‘(I) payment of compensation for damages to
property under section 5(b) of the Civil Asset For-
feiture Reform Act;’’; and
(4) by striking out ‘‘(H)’’ in subparagraph (A)
of paragraph (9) and inserting ‘‘(I)’’.
(b) IN REM PROCEEDINGS.—Paragraph (6) of Rule
C of the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and
Maritime Claims to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
(28 U.S.C. Appendix) is amended by striking ‘‘10 days’’
and inserting ‘‘30 days’’.
(c) CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT.—Section 518 of
the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 888) is re-
pealed.
SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO REVENUE LAWS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 615 of the Tariff Act of
1930 (19 U.S.C. 1615) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 615. APPLICATION OF TITLE 18, UNITED STATES
CODE TO FORFEITURE PROCEEDINGS.
‘‘Those portions of section 981 of title 18, United
States Code, that apply generally to civil forfeiture proce-
dures apply also to any civil forfeiture proceeding relating
to the condemnation or forfeiture of property for violation
of the customs laws.’’.
(b) CONFORMING REPEAL.—Section 608 of the Tar-
iff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1608) is repealed.
(c) TIME FOR FILING CLAIMS.—Section 609(a) of
the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1609) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘twenty’’ and inserting ‘‘30’’;
and
(2) by striking ‘‘or bond’’.
(d) TREASURY ASSET FORFEITURE FUND.—Section
613A(a)(3) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1613b(a)(3)) is amended—
SEC. 5. COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGE TO SEIZED PROP-
ERTY.
(a) TORT CLAIMS ACT.—Section 2680(c) of title 28,
United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘law-enforcement’’ and inserting
‘‘law enforcement’’; and
(2) by inserting before the period the following:
‘‘, except that the provisions of this chapter and sec-
tion 1346(b) of this title do apply to any claim based
on the negligent destruction, injury, or loss of goods,
merchandise, or other property, while in the posses-
sion of any officer of customs or excise or any other
law enforcement officer, if the property was seized
for the purpose of forfeiture but the interest of the
claimant is not forfeited’’.
(b) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to a claim that
cannot be settled under chapter 171 of title 28,
United States Code, the Attorney General may set-
tle, for not more than $50,000 in any case, a claim
for damage to, or loss of, privately owned property
caused by an investigative or law enforcement officer
(as defined in section 2680(h) of title 28, United
States Code) who is employed by the Department of
Justice acting within the scope of his or her employ-
ment.
(2) LIMITATIONS.—The Attorney General may
not pay a claim under paragraph (1) that—
(A) is presented to the Attorney General
more than 1 year after it occurs; or
(B) is presented by an officer or employee
of the United States Government and arose
within the scope of employment.
SEC. 6. 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-
ceeds would have earned at the rate described
in section 1961.
‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON OTHER PAYMENTS.—The
United States shall not be required to disgorge the
value of any intangible benefits nor make any other
payments to the claimant not specifically authorized
by this subsection.’’.
SEC. 7. APPLICABILITY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Unless otherwise specified in this
Act, the amendments made by this Act apply with respect
to claims, suits, and actions filed on or after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
(b) EXCEPTIONS.—
(1) The standard for the required burden of
proof set forth in section 981 of title 18, United
States Code, as amended by section 2, shall apply in
cases pending on the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(2) The amendment made by section 6 shall
apply to any judgment entered after the date of en-
actment of this Act.
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