It’s been tried before.
Almost a decade ago, a Republican state lawmaker partnered with the Oklahoma branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs to try and reform the state’s civil asset forfeiture system.
They didn’t get far.
County sheriffs and the state’s district attorneys pushed back against the idea. And though one bill — limited in scope — became law in 2016, not much has been done since then.
Fast-forward to this week. Reforming the civil asset forfeiture system is back on the table after Gov. Kevin Stitt challenged state lawmakers to make changes during his State of the State speech.
“We need to address civil asset forfeiture,” the governor said Monday. “It’s crazy to me that somebody can be pulled over and have their cash and truck taken for an alleged crime, get acquitted of that crime, but they still never get their property back. That isn’t fair and we need to make sure it isn’t happening anywhere in Oklahoma.”
Oklahoma lawmakers say they’re unclear on details of any new plan to change civil asset forfeiture