Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
Good news! With near-unanimous bipartisan support, the Colorado General Assembly this week passed HB26-1250, a civil forfeiture reform bill that closes a longstanding loophole in Colorado law allowing property to be forfeited without a criminal conviction. The bill also makes Colorado one of the first states in the nation to grant forfeiture defendants the right to an attorney in civil cases. "Even after significant reforms in recent years, Colorado's civil forfeiture laws still permit the government to permanently confiscate property without a criminal conviction," said Alasdair Whitney, legislative counsel at the Institute for Justice. "This bill closes that loophole for good, and it also makes Colorado the first state in the nation to grant property owners the right to an attorney in the forfeiture proceeding, just like there is in criminal court."
