An Act To Strengthen Protections against Civil Asset Forfeiture
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1521
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: FAULKINGHAM, MIRAMANT, ANDREWS, FECTEAU, LIBBY, TALBOT ROSS, WARREN, MAXMIN
Amends: 15 MRSA §5821, 15 MRSA §5825

Legislative Document
No. 1521
H.P. 1125
House of Representatives, April 19, 2021
An Act To Strengthen Protections against Civil Asset Forfeiture
Received by the Clerk of the House on April 15, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Criminal Justice and Public Safety pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative FAULKINGHAM of Winter Harbor.
Cosponsored by Senator MIRAMANT of Knox and
Representatives: ANDREWS of Paris, FECTEAU of Augusta, LIBBY of Auburn, TALBOT 
ROSS of Portland, WARREN of Hallowell, Senator: MAXMIN of Lincoln.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  15 MRSA §5821, first ¶, as amended by PL 2017, c. 409, Pt. B, §1, is 
further amended to read:
Except as provided in section 5821‑A or 5821-B, the following are subject to forfeiture 
to the State and no property right may exist in them if the owner of the following is 
convicted of a crime in which the following was involved:
Sec. 2.  15 MRSA §5821, sub-§3-A, as repealed and replaced by PL 2013, c. 588, 
Pt. A, §19, is amended to read:
3-A.  Firearms and other weapons.  Law enforcement officers may seize all firearms 
and dangerous weapons that they may find in any lawful search for scheduled drugs in 
which scheduled drugs are found.  Except for those seized weapons listed in a petition filed 
in the Superior Court pursuant to section 5822, all weapons seized, for every firearm or 
dangerous weapon seized, if the owner of the firearm or dangerous weapon is convicted of 
a crime in which the firearm or dangerous weapon was involved, after notice and 
opportunity for hearing, the firearm or dangerous weapon must be forfeited to the State by 
the District Court 90 days after a list of the weapons and drugs seized is filed in the District 
Court in the district in which the weapons and drugs were seized.  A weapon need may not 
be forfeited if the owner appears prior to the declaration of forfeiture and unless the State 
satisfies the court, by a preponderance of evidence, of all of the following: that the owner 
of the firearm or dangerous weapon was convicted of a crime in which the firearm or 
dangerous weapon was involved.
A.  That the owner had a possessory interest in the weapon at the time of the seizure 
sufficient to exclude every person involved with the seized drugs or every person at the 
site of the seizure;
B.  That the owner had no knowledge of or involvement with the drugs and was not at 
the site of the seizure; and
C.  That the owner had not given any involved person permission to possess or use the 
weapon.
Post-hearing procedures are as provided in section 5822.
A confiscated or forfeited firearm that was confiscated or forfeited because it was used to 
commit a homicide must be destroyed by the State unless the firearm was stolen and the 
rightful owner was not the person who committed the homicide, in which case the firearm 
must be returned to the owner if ascertainable.;
Sec. 3.  15 MRSA §5821, sub-§3-B, as amended by PL 2019, c. 113, Pt. C, §52, is 
further amended to read:
3-B.  Forfeiture of firearms used in the commission of certain acts.  In addition to 
the provisions of subsection 3‑A and Title 17‑A, section 1504, this subsection controls the 
forfeiture of firearms used in the commission of certain acts.
A.  Except as provided in paragraph B, a firearm is subject to forfeiture to the State if 
the firearm is used by a person who is the owner of the firearm to commit a criminal 
act that in fact causes serious bodily injury or death to another human being and, 
following that act, the person either commits suicide or attempts to commit suicide and 
the attempt results in the person's becoming incompetent to stand trial or the person is 
killed or rendered incompetent to stand trial as the result of a justifiable use of deadly 
force by a law enforcement officer.  Except as provided in paragraph B, a property 
right does not exist in the firearm subject to forfeiture.
B.  A firearm that is used in the commission of a criminal act described in paragraph A 
is exempt from forfeiture under this subsection if the firearm belongs to another person 
who is the rightful owner from whom the firearm has been stolen and the other person 
is not a principal or accomplice in the criminal act.  In that case, the firearm must be 
transferred to the other person unless that person is otherwise prohibited from 
possessing a firearm under applicable law.
A firearm subject to forfeiture pursuant to this subsection that is declared by a court to be 
forfeited pursuant to section 5822 must be promptly destroyed, or caused to be promptly 
destroyed, by the law enforcement agency that has custody of the firearm.;
Sec. 4.  15 MRSA §5821, sub-§7-A, as amended by PL 2019, c. 97, §1, is further 
amended to read:
7-A.  Computers.  Except as provided in paragraph A, all computers Computers, as 
defined in Title 17‑A, section 431, subsection 2, and computer equipment, including, but 
not limited to, printers and scanners, that are used or are attempted to be used in violation 
of Title 17‑A, section 259‑A.;
A.  Property may not be forfeited under this subsection, to the extent of the interest of 
an owner, by reason of an act or omission established by that owner to have been 
committed or omitted without the knowledge or consent of the owner;
Sec. 5.  15 MRSA §5821, as amended by PL 2019, c. 97, §§1 to 3 and c. 113, Pt. C, 
§52, is further amended by adding at the end a new paragraph to read:
Unless seized property under this section includes United States currency in excess of 
$100,000, a law enforcement agency, prosecuting authority, state agency, county or 
municipality may not enter into an agreement to transfer or refer property seized under this 
section to a federal agency directly, indirectly, through adoption, through an 
intergovernmental joint task force or by other means that circumvent the provisions of this 
section.
Sec. 6.  15 MRSA §5825, as amended by PL 2019, c. 651, §1, is further amended to 
read:
§5825.  Records; reports
1.  Records of forfeited property.  Any officer to whom or department or agency to 
which property subject to forfeiture under section 5821 has been ordered forfeited shall 
maintain records showing:
A.  The name of the court that ordered each item of property to be forfeited to the 
officer, department or agency;
D.  The date on which each item of property was ordered forfeited to the officer, 
department or agency; and
E.  A description of each item of property forfeited to the officer, department or agency.
The records must be open to inspection.  A copy of each record must be filed with the 
Department of Public Safety.
2.  Department of Public Safety.  A report of the transfer of property previously 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 report must 
account for any such transfer that occurred during the 12 months preceding such a request.  
The Department of Public Safety shall maintain all records filed with the department 
pursuant to subsection 1.  The Department of Public Safety shall make all records under 
this subsection available on a publicly accessible website.
SUMMARY
This bill requires that, for property to be forfeited under the criminal forfeiture laws, 
the owner of the property be convicted of a crime in which the property was involved, and 
it prohibits a law enforcement agency or other entity from entering into an agreement to 
transfer or refer the property seized to a federal agency.  This bill also requires that the 
records of forfeited property be posted by the Department of Public Safety on a publicly 
accessible website.