Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform at the Wyoming Senate

by Stephen Klein

After narrowly emerging from the Wyoming Senate Judiciary Committee by a 3-2 vote on Monday, yesterday the entire Wyoming Senate began to consider Senate File 14, which would replace civil forfeiture under the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act with criminal forfeiture. That is, instead of law enforcement being able to seize and forfeit cash, cars, firearms and other property that is allegedly related to the drug trade through a civil proceeding (where the property owner is not provided an attorney and is subject to a preponderance of the evidence standard instead of proof beyond a reasonable doubt), the property owner will have to be convicted of a drug felony before losing any property.

Senator Dave Kinskey, serving his first term following his appointment to replace the late Senator John Schiffer, introduced the bill to the Senate on behalf of the Judiciary Committee. His opening was nearly fifteen minutes, and I highly recommend listening to it in its entirety:

(The entire January 21 afternoon session of the Wyoming Senate can be downloaded here.)

Senate File 14 passed second reading this morning at the Wyoming Senate with two amendments (one housekeeping, the other which makes forfeiture easier but does not alter the requirement of a felony conviction or plea) and with no additional discussion on the bill itself. If it passes third reading (likely heard tomorrow) it will head to the Wyoming House, and if it passes there to the Governor for signature.

There is a long way to go before SF14 becomes law, but the momentum behind reforming asset forfeiture is strong. I'm proud of my liberty lobbying on this issue over the interim and during this session, and the scholarship to support it, but it takes committed, attentive leadership by elected leaders to ultimately make reform happen.