Kelly McCarthy

After looking into Montana laws and working with the Institute for Justice, we found that our laws provided no greater property rights protections than those states who were identified with rampant abuse, (Texas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc.), from that time I began meeting with stakeholders and working on the bill.

We crafted this legislation so it would not interfere with our police agencies’ abilities to get drugs and the tools of the trade off the street; so there are no changes to the seizure laws, we did want to protect to protect Montanans and those traveling through Montana from the abuse of civil asset forfeiture that has plagued other states.