{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-pauls-fair-act-restores-respect-5th-amendment/", "Dr. Rand Paul\u2019s FAIR Act Restores Respect for 5th Amendment", "2017-03-16", "2017", "2017-03", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Yesterday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul reintroduced S. 642, the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) Act to protect property owners\u2019 rights and restore the Fifth Amendment\u2019s role in civil forfeiture proceedings. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) has introduced companion legislation (H.R. 1555) in the U.S. House of Representatives.\n\n\u201cThe federal government has made it far too easy for government agencies to take and profit from the property of those who have not been convicted of a crime,\u201d said Dr. Paul. \u201cThe FAIR Act will protect Americans\u2019 Fifth Amendment rights from being infringed upon by ensuring that government agencies no longer profit from taking the property of U.S. citizens without due process. It guards against abuse while maintaining the ability of courts to order the surrender of proceeds of crime.\u201d\n\n\u201cOver the past few years, we\u2019ve seen a wave of stories where the government unjustly seized property from innocent Americans without charging them with a crime,\u201d said Rep. Walberg. \u201cThese types of abuses of civil asset forfeiture laws should be a clarion call to reform the system and uphold the constitutional rights of the American people. That\u2019s why I\u2019m committed to championing the FAIR Act, which includes comprehensive and bipartisan reforms to limit the scope of the government\u2019s forfeiture powers and protect individual rights.\u201d\n\nDr. Paul\u2019s FAIR Act is supported by Heritage Action, the American Civil Liberties Union, Institute for Justice, FreedomWorks, National Federation of Independent Business, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Drug Policy Alliance, Americans for Tax Reform, and Campaign for Liberty.\n\nYou can read the entire legislation HERE, and you can find a section-by-section breakdown HERE. Background information is available below.\n\nDr. Rand Paul\u2019s S. 642, the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act:\n\nEliminates \u201cEquitable\u201d Sharing: The federal \u201cequitable\u201d sharing program allows state law enforcement officers to turn seized property over to federal officials for forfeiture\u2014and get up to 80% of the proceeds of the forfeited property. The FAIR Act ends \u201cequitable\u201d sharing and ensures that law enforcement cannot ignore state law.\n\nRestores Principle of \u201cInnocent Until Proven Guilty\u201d: Under current law, federal law enforcement agencies may take property suspected of involvement in crime without charging the property owner with a crime. The FAIR Act places on the government the burden to show that a property owner consented to his property being used in a crime by a third party (or that the property owner was willfully blind to the criminal activity).\n\nRequires Clear and Convincing Evidence: Under current law, the government need only prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a defendant\u2019s property was used for an illegal purpose to forfeit the property. The FAIR Act would require that the government prove its case by the higher standard of clear and convincing evidence.\n\nProtects the Right to Counsel: Under current law, property owners can receive appointed counsel due to indigency only if (1) they request it, and (2) their home has been seized. The FAIR Act would ensure that owners have the opportunity to receive representation in all civil forfeiture proceedings.\n\nRemoves the Profit Incentive: Law enforcement should be motivated by public safety, not financial rewards. The FAIR Act would restore the rule in which the proceeds of forfeiture go to the Treasury\u2019s General Fund, where Congress can appropriate the money for any purpose.\n\nReforms IRS Seizures: The FAIR Act requires that the IRS prove that the defendant knowingly deposited funds with criminal intent before they can seize the property. It also requires that a probable cause hearing be held no later than 14 days after the IRS seizes funds under the pretense of a structuring violation.\n\nEnacts Strong Reporting Requirements: The Department of Justice will be required to compile and publish the percentage of its seizures that were subjected to civil and criminal asset forfeiture.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T21:30:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-pauls-fair-act-restores-respect-5th-amendment/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.901821069419384, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}