Laramie County Sheriff: Asset Forfeiture Proposal Good Bill

Laramie County Sheriff Danny Glick calls an asset forfeiture bill being considered in the state legislature "a good bill."

Glick says Senate File 46, which has passed the State Senate and is currently pending in the Wyoming House of Representatives, would require a judge to find probable cause that property or money had been used in drug trafficking before it could be seized.

It would not require a criminal conviction for a seizure, but would make it more difficult to seize private property than the state's current asset forfeiture law, which essentially forces the property owner to prove they are innocent to get their property back.

The Sheriff says Senate File 46 "has quite a language change, as was demanded by the people".

He also says he has "heard good things about the bill from legislators."

Glick opposed a bill passed by lawmakers in 2015 that would have required a criminal conviction to seize property in asset forfeiture cases, saying at the time "we aren't doing anything wrong."

That bill was vetoed by Governor Matt Mead, who said he didn't see a problem with the state's current asset forfeiture law. Lawmakers failed to override the veto.

Since Wyoming's state constitution prohibits the governor from saying whether he will veto bills that are still being considered in the legislature, there is no way to know at this point whether he will veto Senate File 46 if it is approved in the state house.

The bill passed second reading in the house on Tuesday. It needs to pass one more reading to be approved.