Urges New Jersey Supreme Court to study reasonableness of lowering court fees in civil asset forfeiture cases.

SR80

SENATE RESOLUTION No. 80

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MARCH 5, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT

District 31 (Hudson)

SYNOPSIS

���� Urges New Jersey Supreme Court to study
reasonableness of lowering court fees in civil asset forfeiture cases.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

A S
ENATE
Resolution

respectfully urging the New Jersey Supreme Court to study the reasonableness of
court fees in certain civil asset forfeiture cases.

Whereas,
A civil asset forfeiture proceeding is an action
by the government seeking ownership of personal
property either used as an instrumentality of a crime or the fruits of criminal
activity; and��

Whereas,
New Jersey allows the practice of civil asset
forfeiture when law enforcement officers can meet the �preponderance of
evidence� standard that property was used in the commission of a crime as
opposed to the �beyond a reasonable doubt� standard, which is necessary to
convict a person for a crime; and

Whereas,
The preponderance of the evidence standard allows
property to be seized from claimants regardless of whether they are criminally
charged or have had their criminal charges dismissed; and��

Whereas,
Forfeiture proceeds are required to be used solely
for law enforcement purposes and are required to be designated for the
exclusive use of the law enforcement agency that contributed to the
surveillance, investigation, arrest, or prosecution resulting in the
forfeiture; and

Whereas,
Certain civil liberty groups have criticized civil
asset forfeiture as an incentive for law enforcement entities to obtain
people�s personal property for the purpose of funding law enforcement
initiatives; and

Whereas,
The American Civil Liberties Union-New Jersey
recently released data from civil asset forfeiture actions in New� Jersey from
January through May of 2016 revealing that areas with greater minority
populations tend to have a higher number of property seizures; and

Whereas,
According to recent news reports, claimants in
civil asset forfeiture proceedings are unable to afford the court fees required
to file an action to reclaim their seized property; and

Whereas,
In particular, New Jersey Advanced Media reported
that Hudson County is unique in that it combines numerous unrelated forfeiture
claims into a single action thereby requiring multiple claimants to pay higher
court filing fees; and

Whereas,
This news report indicated that, in many cases, the
court filing fees cost more than the value of property or money seized by law
enforcement and, as a result, many people do not defend their rights in a civil
action to seek replevin of seized property; and

Whereas,
This House respectfully urges the New Jersey
Supreme Court to study the reasonableness of court fees in certain civil asset
forfeiture cases in order to determine whether the fees in these cases should
be lowered and whether Rules of Court should be promulgated to ensure uniform
enforcement among the counties; now, therefore,

����
Be It Resolved
by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� This House respectfully
urges the Supreme Court of New Jersey to study the reasonableness of court fees
in certain civil asset forfeiture cases in order to determine whether the fees
in these cases should be lowered and Rules of Court should be promulgated to
ensure that civil asset forfeiture cases are uniformly enforced among the
counties.�

���� 2.��� Copies of this
resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the
Clerk of the General Assembly to the Administrative Director of the
Administrative Office of the Courts.

STATEMENT

����
This
resolution respectfully urges the New Jersey Supreme Court to study the
reasonableness of court fees in certain civil asset forfeiture cases in order
to determine whether the fees in these cases should be lowered and Rules of
Court should be promulgated to ensure uniform enforcement among the counties.�

���� A
civil asset forfeiture proceeding is an action
by the government seeking ownership of personal property either used as
an instrumentality of a crime or the fruits of criminal activity.�
According to recent news reports, claimants in civil
asset forfeiture proceedings are unable to afford the court fees required to
file an action to reclaim their seized property.� These news reports indicate
that, in many cases, the court filing fees cost more than the value of property
or money seized by law enforcement and, as a result, many people do not defend
their rights in a civil action to seek replevin of seized property.