Asset Forfeiture Reform Initiative Filed
Metcalf named Honorary Chairman

OLYMPIA—Former Second District Congressman Jack Metcalf (R-Langley) has been named honorary chairman of the Innocent Property Owners Protection Initiative, an asset forfeiture reform initiative filed with the Secretary of State on Thursday.

    “We are very pleased that Congressman Metcalf has agreed to join our effort,” said Erne Lewis, president of Liberty Initiatives, the sponsoring organization. “As a member of Congress, Jack consistently sponsored and voted for legislation protecting individual liberties. His involvement gives the initiative a good head start as we begin the petition drive in the next few weeks.”

    Metcalf, an original supporter of asset forfeiture laws, said he has since regretted voting for the legislation.

    “Too many innocent people have lost property and their reputations because of these laws,” said Metcalf. “What at first sounded like a good idea to fight drug dealers has become a nightmare for people not even charged with a crime. We have to return to the Constitutional principal of innocent until proven guilty, which is why I’ve agreed to serve as honorary chairman for the initiative.”

    The Innocent Property Owners Protection Initiative will be assigned a number over the next few days. As an initiative to the Legislature, its organizers have until Jan 1, 2002 to gather just over 200,000 valid signatures. If it qualifies, the measure goes to the Legislature for consideration. Lawmakers can pass the initiative outright or send it to the voters in the November 2002 election.

    “Our initiative will require criminal conviction before property may be forfeited,” said Lewis. “Today property is seized without a trial and the person determining the appropriateness of the seizure is the chief law enforcement officer of the agency that seized the property.”

    The initiative would place the burden of proof upon the accusing agency to prove that the owner of the property to be forfeited is guilty of a crime and that the property was used in the crime or was proceeds of the crime. It also requires that the value of the property to be forfeited is proportionate to the crime committed.

    “Also, under existing laws, enforcement agencies keep 90 percent of the proceeds of forfeited property for their own use,” added Lewis. “That clearly encourages behavior that our Bill of Rights sought to prevent. Under this initiative, all money received from the sale of appropriately forfeited property will be shared by the state education fund and drug treatment programs.“

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