Civil Asset Forfeiture Reporting

The Civil Forfeiture Reform Act, HB17-1313, was enacted on August 9, 2017 and requires State and local law enforcement agencies authorized to effect civil forfeitures to biannually report:

Specified information, if known, about forfeiture cases resulting in proceeds for the agency
The amount of proceeds received from such cases
A categorization of the expenditure of proceeds
The retained balance of the forfeiture proceeds

The reporting process is online, with public access to the information and there is a fine for agencies that do not report within the time required.

The Act does not require law enforcement agencies to report any information that "is likely to disclose the identity of a confidential source, disclose confidential investigative or prosecution material that could endanger the life or physical safety of any person, disclose the existence of a confidential surveillance or investigation, or disclose techniques or procedures for law enforcement procedures, investigation, or prosecutions..."

HB18-1020 modified certain aspects of the reporting process. The reporting process now includes the following:

Expanded scope of reported assets and cases to include those forfeited pursuant to “any local public nuisance law or ordinance”
Refined expenditure categories by adding “Disbursements” to itemize forfeiture proceeds disbursed to other agencies belonging to a multi-jurisdictional task force
Clarified the statutory reference for agencies required to report forfeiture information from “Seizing Agency” to “Reporting Agency”

Reporting and Data

All reporting agencies that have received state or federal forfeiture proceeds within the applicable report period are required to submit a Civil Asset Forfeiture Report. A report is still required for each period, even if a Reporting Agency has not received proceeds. The biannual Civil Asset Forfeiture Reports filed pursuant to HB17-1313 cover six months of each year, and are due by June 1 and December 1 following the applicable reporting period.

NOTICE OF REPORTING DEADLINES

Civil Asset Forfeiture Reports will be due twice a year on the following dates: