An Act To Amend Certain Record-keeping and Reporting Requirements Imposed on State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies and the Department of Public Safety
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1983
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: DESCHAMBAULT
Amends: 15 MRSA §5825

Legislative Document
No. 1983
S.P. 685
In Senate, January 8, 2020
An Act To Amend Certain Record-keeping and Reporting 
Requirements Imposed on State and Local Law Enforcement 
Agencies and the Department of Public Safety
Submitted by the Department of Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 203.
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator DESCHAMBAULT of York.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §5825, as corrected by RR 2017, c. 1, §9, is amended to read:
§5825.  Records; reports
1.  Records of forfeited property.  Any officer, to whom or department or agency 
having custody of to which property subject to forfeiture under section 5821 or having 
disposed of the property has been ordered forfeited shall maintain complete records 
showing:
A.  From whom it received the The name of the court that ordered each item of 
property to be forfeited to the officer, department or agency;
B.  Under what authority it held, received or disposed of the property;
C.  To whom it delivered the property;
D.  The date and manner of destruction or disposition of the on which each item of 
property was ordered forfeited to the officer, department or agency; and
E.  The exact kinds, quantities and forms of the A description of each item of 
property forfeited to the officer, department or agency.
The records must be open to inspection by all federal and state officers responsible for 
enforcing federal and state drug control laws.  Persons making final disposition or 
destruction of the property under court order shall report, under oath, to the court the 
exact circumstances of the disposition or destruction.
2.  Department of Public Safety; centralized record.  The Department of Public 
Safety shall maintain a centralized record of property seized, held by and ordered to the 
department.  A report of the disposition transfer of property previously held by the 
department Department of Public Safety and then ordered by the a court to any be 
forfeited to another governmental entity must be provided at least quarterly upon request 
to the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services and the Office of Fiscal 
and Program Review for review.  These records must include an estimate as to the fair 
market value of items seized.  The report must account for any such transfer that occurred 
during the 12 months preceding such a request.
SUMMARY
This bill amends the laws regarding asset forfeiture-related record keeping to clarify 
that records of property that is forfeited to law enforcement agencies must be maintained 
by those agencies and to change the specific information that must be included in those 
records.  The bill also provides that such records are open to inspection by anyone.  The 
bill provides that reports concerning the transfer of property held by the Department of 
Public Safety and then ordered by a court to be forfeited to another governmental entity 
must be provided upon request to the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial 
Services and the Office of Fiscal and Program Review.  The Department of Public 
Safety's reports must account for any such forfeiture that occurred during the 12 months 
preceding such a request.  The bill eliminates the current law that requires the Department 
of Public Safety to provide these reports at least quarterly to the Commissioner of 
Administrative and Financial Services and the Office of Fiscal and Program Review and 
the current law that requires the Department of Public Safety to maintain a centralized 
record of property seized, held by the department and ordered to the department, 
including an estimate of the fair market value of items seized.