The battle over a bill that would reform Hawaii’s civil asset forfeiture program — which allows law enforcement to seize cash and property they believe is tied to criminal activity — escalated this week with legislators, civil liberties advocates and supporters of drug reform laws holding a press conference Tuesday at the state Capitol, urging Gov. David Ige not to veto the measure.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office has so far declined to release communications Ige has received on the bill, which is opposed by law enforcement agencies, saying its policy wing is overwhelmed. Those documents could shed light on the behind-the-scenes arguments being made by interested parties as they try to influence the governor’s final decision on the bill. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser began asking for those communications in May.
House Bill 748 was among 20 bills that Ige said last week he intended to veto. He has until July 9 to make a final decision.
Hawaii’s civil asset forfeiture program allows law enforcement officials to seize cash and property they believe is associated with certain crimes, such as drug offenses, before there is ever a conviction. Law enforcement agencies argue it’s a useful tool for disrupting criminal operations and rendering crime, such as drug trafficking and gambling, unprofitable. But the practice has long been criticized by civil liberties advocates who say the seizures trample on due process rights and that such tactics are ripe for abuse.
Hawaii’s civil asset forfeiture law also allows property to be seized even if the owner wasn’t involved in the crime but police believe they knew it was going on.
House Bill 748 would require seized property be returned to its owner if ultimately there is no corresponding criminal charge that’s related to the property seizure. It would also restrict property seizures to cases involving felonies and divert the cash and proceeds from property auctions to the state’s general fund. Currently, those funds are divvied up between the attorney general’s office and local law enforcement agencies — an arrangement that critics say is a direct conflict of interest.
“When the government can step in and seize people’s property without compensation, without charges being filed, without a criminal conviction, that is government-sponsored theft. That is what civil asset forfeiture in its current form allows,” said state Rep. Chris Lee, a chief advocate of the bill in the Legislature, during Tuesday’s news conference. “What this bill does is say you’ve got to have a conviction, you’ve got to prove that someone has done something wrong before the government can step in and permanently seize and keep people’s property, whether it’s cash, vehicles or anything else.
“That is justice. That is our due process that we have in this country. If we cannot follow that, then we’ve lost our way.”
About two dozen others attended the news conference, including state Sen. Karl Rhoads, state Rep. Joy A. San Buenaventura and representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii and Young Progressives Demanding Action. Many of those in attendance planned to meet with Ige later in the day.
Legislators seized on a 2018 state audit that found in 26% of civil asset forfeiture cases closed during the 2015 fiscal year, there was never any corresponding criminal charge. In another 4% of cases, property was forfeited even though the underlying charge was ultimately dismissed.
Buenaventura said those figures reflected “legalized theft by the government” from innocent people.
State Attorney General Clare Connors declined an interview request to discuss House Bill 748 and the findings of the state audit. A spokesman for the office said her schedule was too full. But last week she told the Star-Advertiser that there are strong checks within the state’s program to prevent abuses.
“There are all kinds of defenses that already exist in our laws that are effectively protecting those who own property and don’t know that this (criminal) conduct is happening,” she said.
Connors said that the program has operated successfully in Hawaii and that it’s important for law enforcement to be able to seize property related to misdemeanor offenses, such as gaming and cockfighting, which House Bill 748 would prohibit.
Ige indicated last week that he intends to veto the bill because it restricts civil asset forfeiture to felonies. He said the law already protects against abuses.
The Star-Advertiser requested written comments sent to the governor on the bill on May 13 and June 19 and again this week, but has yet to receive them. The governor’s office attributed delays in providing that information to the volume of comments the office has received on hundreds of bills.
“The governor’s office is working diligently to respond as quickly as we can to the many requests for information we’ve received while protecting the personal information of individuals who have sent comments on legislation,” Jodi Leong, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said by email.
