ATLANTA — A group of lawmakers are taking a stab at limiting how much money local governments can keep from court fines and civil forfeiture for their yearly budgets.
Civil asset forfeiture is the process by which a law enforcement agency can seize property, money or other valuables from someone, even without charging the individuals. Even if the person the items were taken from is innocent and never convicted, the funds or items can stay with the department that seized it.
Now, state lawmakers are working on a way to limit how those items and seized money are used by city and county governments.
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According to House Bill 140, civil asset forfeiture will still be allowed in Georgia, but the percentage of funds in a government’s budget coming from fines and forfeiture would be limited.
“No more than 10% of the funds appropriated in a local government’s budget ordinance shall be derived from funds collected by such local government as criminal or civil fines or as a result of a criminal or civil forfeiture action,” the bill says.
Instead, funds taken in by a local government as criminal or civil fines, or seized through civil or criminal asset forfeiture, would go to the state if above the 10% cap.
Those funds must be delivered to the Office of the State Treasurer within 30 days of the end of a fiscal year. If the bill passes, it will apply to any budget ordinance in a local government on or after Jan. 1, 2026.
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