FAIR Act
Latest action · Jan 26, 2015 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 26, 2015
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act of 2015 or the FAIR Act
This bill modifies general rules governing civil forfeiture proceedings to: (1) ensure that a person contesting a civil forfeiture has legal representation without regard to whether the property subject to forfeiture is being used by such person as a primary residence; (2) increase the federal government's burden of proof in civil forfeiture proceedings to clear and convincing evidence; (3) require the government, in addition to showing a substantial connection between the seized property and an offense, to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the owner of any interest in the seized property used the property with intent to facilitate the offense or knowingly consented or was willfully blind to the use of the property by another in connection with the offense; and (4) expand the proportionality criteria used by a court to determine whether a civil forfeiture was constitutionally excessive.
To remove incentives for carrying out civil forfeitures, the bill requires proceeds from the disposition of seized property to be deposited into the General Fund of the Treasury, rather than to Department of Justice accounts for law enforcement activities.
The bill adds a scienter requirement (i.e., a knowing violation) to the prohibition against structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements.
The bill requires: (1) a court to conduct a probable cause hearing to determine if there is a violation of the prohibition against structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements involving a monetary instrument and to return such instrument if probable cause is not established, and (2) the Attorney General to specify in reports to Congress and the public on forfeitures the amounts received from criminal and civil forfeitures.
Cosponsors 5
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 27, 2015 to Oct 6, 2015.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-ME | Angus S. King Jr. | Jan 27, 2015 | |
| R-UT | Mike Lee | Jan 27, 2015 | |
| R-ID | Mike Crapo | Feb 12, 2015 | |
| D-NM | Martin Heinrich | Sep 10, 2015 | |
| D-NM | Tom Udall | Oct 6, 2015 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 26, 2015Introduced in Senate
- Jan 26, 2015Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 540 | FAIR Act | Identical bill | Feb 19, 2015 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.
- Civil actions and liability
- Congressional oversight
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
- Criminal procedure and sentencing
- Currency
- Customs enforcement
- Drug trafficking and controlled substances
- Evidence and witnesses
- Fraud offenses and financial crimes
- Government trust funds
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 26, 2015Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.