STATE NOT GETTING FORFEITURE FUNDS

Utah's state auditor says there is money missing from state coffers --
funds that should have come to the state treasurer's office through the
seizure of property from police investigations of drug crimes.

In letters to Utah Senate President Al Mansell and House Speaker Marty
Stephens last week, auditor Auston Johnson said that Utah's controversial
Utah Uniform Forfeiture Procedures Act (UUFPA), also known as Initiative B,
is not being enforced.

Under the act, the money -- some $237,999 in cash and property with an
undetermined value collected from 28 cases in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber
county investigations -- should have gone from the police to the state
treasurer and then into the Uniform School Fund.

Instead, district judges presiding over drug cases awarded the funds back
to the investigating agencies, Johnson's letter says.

"It is our recommendation that the Legislature pursue the appropriate
course to resolve any conflict that exists and to ensure that Initiative B
is enforced, including the transfer of any funds to the state treasurer
that were in violation of the UUFPA," Johnson's letter says.

County prosecutors David Yocom of Salt Lake, Mel Wilson of Davis and Mark
DeCaria of Weber countered Johnson's letter to the legislative leaders with
one of their own. They argue that a law passed by the 2001 Legislature
altered the asset forfeiture law and is in conflict with UUFPA.

Mansell, R-Sandy, was out of town Friday, but Utah Attorney General Mark
Shurtleff said the Senate president has asked the Attorney General's Office
to sort the matter out.

Billed as a way to protect innocent people from having their property
seized by police agencies, Initiative B passed by a huge margin during the
November election in 2000.

For law enforcement agencies, UUFPA meant cutting off hundreds of thousands
of dollars in state and federal forfeiture money used to augment drug
interdiction efforts. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office estimates it
has lost between $500,000 and $1 million since the initiative became law,
deputy Peggy Faulkner said.

Shurtleff said he also knew of $3.8 million in federal forfeiture funds
earmarked for Utah police but that was prevented from being distributed by
the law.

Prosecutors say part of the conflict is in the effective date of the two
laws. UUFPA became law as of March 1, 2002, and SB168 on July 1 of that
same year. A court ruling last summer also complicated the matter when U.S.
District Judge Dee Benson struck down portions of UUFPA and ruled
forfeitures can be turned over to federal law enforcement agencies by local
police.

Lawmakers may resolve some of the complexity and ambiguity surrounding
forfeiture law this legislative session.

Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, said he has been working on legislation that
would continue to protect the rights of private citizens while sorting out
the issue of collection and distribution of funds. The bill may be ready
early next week, he said.

"This is the kind of thing that I was worrying about," Valentine said
Friday after reading Johnson's letter. "My first impression is this is a
result of statutory conflicts, crafty prosecutors and judges who are not
fully familiar with the statutes."

Although he said he could not yet discuss the details, Valentine said his
bill would outline a specific process by which the state could collect
forfeiture funds and create a mechanism for distributing those back to law
enforcement agencies or programs.