Yakima County Rep. Norm Johnson (R-14) is pushing two anti-gang bills designed to give law enforcement agencies the power to seize properties they believe are being used for criminal activity. Under the legislation, it would be up to property owners to prove they're on the up-and-up, which is crazy.

Publicola has the story:

Both bills raise questions about civil liberties and property rights, prompting dissenting testimony from Shankar Narayan, ACLU of Washington Legislative Director.

HB 2413 would allow law enforcement agents to seize private property that’s been used to facilitate criminal gang activity.  The seized property could be retained for use by the agencies or sold with 90 percent of revenues going to police departments. The burden of proving innocence would fall on property owners. If they are able to prove innocence they get their property back (say, their house) and a portion of their legal fees is compensated. Law enforcement officers, Yakima county citizens, and law enforcement lobbyists all testified in support of the bill.

The second bill, HB 2414, was similar to the first—as were the voices testifying for and against. It would allow citizens to file complaints to police reporting houses or apartments in their neighborhood being used for criminal gang activity. The properties would be deemed “nuisances” and the burden of proving innocence would again fall on the property owner. If the owners were unable to prove innocence their property would be seized. According to Narayan, this bill looks at property owners as “guilty until proven innocent.”

Publicola says the ACLU has come out against HB 2413 because it could have "unintended consequences for innocent property owners." Read the rest here.