After year delay, new laws approved

Bob McDonnell pledged in 2009 to solve a problem that was hindering the forfeiture of criminal assets.

"Asset forfeiture laws are scattered in a confusing network throughout the code of Virginia,” McDonnell's gubernatorial campaign declared in its public safety platform released that August. "Law enforcement and prosecutors are discouraged by the system.

"To be more effective, these laws must be streamlined. To properly address this task, McDonnell will direct the secretary of public safety  to consult with experts and stakeholders and recommend amendments to Virginia's laws for the 2011 session of the General Assembly.”

We noted in 2011 that the General Assembly adjourned that year without any action to consolidate the laws. McDonnell's office told us that the governor decided to push back the issue to the 2012 legislative session. So we initially rated the promise In the Works.  

Jeff Caldwell, a spokesman for the governor, recently told us McDonnell fulfilled this promise last year by signing a bill that streamlined the various asset forfeiture provisions. The measure was unanimously approved by the House and Senate.

"The 2012 legislation required that all asset forfeitures in the commonwealth be handled in the same manner,” Caldwell wrote in an e-mail. "This will assist Commonwealth"s attorneys in seizing of items in a consistent manner. This consolidation bill leaves the substantive provisions of forfeiture intact while directing one procedural model found in one place in the code.”

We spoke to Tom Shaia, a deputy commonwealth's attorney in Spotsylvania County who helped draft the law. He said that prior to the measure, there were five sets of procedures for selling a criminal"s assets and conveying the proceeds to the state.

"It was a hodge podge,”Shaia said. "It depended on the case. It depended on the statute you were proceeding under. It depended on the circumstances.”

Filing deadlines varied for different cases. In the case of a car used in a robbery, a commonwealth's attorney had up to 60 days from the time that vehicle was seized to file the litigation seeking to forfeit the asset to the state, Shaia said. In the case of a car seized in connection with a drug case that deadline was 90 days. Now the deadline for both cases is 90 days.

Also different cases were handled by different courts. Forfeiture of assets related to an illegal gambling operation were handled by general district court while drug asset forfeitures were handled in circuit court, Shaia said. Now forfeitures in both those kinds of cases are handled by a circuit court.

McDonnell was a year late in meeting his self-imposed deadline to seek the new forfeiture law. But in the end, he delivered, so we'll upgrade our rating to Promise Kept.