The Kansas Standard Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Act (KSASFA), K.S.A. 60-4101 et seq., in effect since 1994, authorizes Kansas law enforcement officers to seize property and cash alleged to be related to certain criminal activity—although no criminal case need ever be filed. In February 2017, the Kansas Legislature asked the Kansas Judicial Council to form the Advisory Committee on the Reformation of Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws to study the state’s forfeiture laws and to provide a report and recommendation for possible reforms. Joseph, Hollander & Craft’s Chris Joseph served on that committee, which was instrumental in developing reform legislation passed into law in 2018.

As part of that reform, the legislature enacted K.S.A. 60-4127, which requires all Kansas law enforcement agencies to report asset seizure and forfeiture information to the Kansas Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Repository at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The KBI’s initial reports, available at https://kasfr.kbi.ks.gov/, are beginning to tell a story.

Chris Joseph sat down with KMBC’s William Joy to discuss the implication of the data collected to date. “It identified the scope of what’s going on,” Chris Joseph said, while noting, “it will probably require a full year of data before lawmakers can begin discussing reforms.”

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