On June 5, 2026, Governor Jared Polis signed HB 26-1250 into law, making Colorado just the second state in the nation to provide legal counsel for low-income property owners facing civil asset forfeiture. The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm and national leader in forfeiture reform advocacy, announced its support for the legislation, which passed with near-unanimous bipartisan backing. The bill closes a major loophole that allowed law enforcement to seize and forfeit property without securing a criminal conviction first.
The numbers paint a stark picture of how forfeiture works in Colorado. According to the Institute for Justice's Policing for Profit report, more than 80% of forfeitures in the state involve cash. From 2019 to 2023, the median value of currency forfeited was less than $2,400. Nationwide, the median cost of defending a state forfeiture claim runs about $3,300—meaning many property owners face legal costs that exceed what they're fighting to recover. Most forfeiture proceedings in Colorado take nine months or more to resolve.
"Property rights are fundamental, and this reform provides stronger protections for people whose property is targeted for forfeiture," said Alasdair Whitney, legislative counsel at the Institute for Justice. The organization praised the bill's sponsors—Representatives Jennifer Bacon and Ken DeGraaf, along with Senators Katie Wallace and Scott Bright—and the activists and community leaders who pushed the reform forward. According to Whitney, their efforts show that "protecting constitutional rights is not a partisan issue."
The new law builds on Colorado's existing forfeiture protections, which have evolved over two decades. In 2002, Colorado passed legislation requiring a conviction in most forfeiture cases, and a 2017 update tried to stop state law enforcement from partnering with federal agencies to dodge Colorado's stricter rules. But a loophole remained that let property be forfeited before any conviction. HB 26-1250 closes that gap by requiring courts to pause forfeiture proceedings until there's a conviction in the related criminal case. It also funds the new legal representation program by redirecting some forfeiture proceeds away from law enforcement—addressing a core critique of civil forfeiture, which is that police agencies profit directly from the property they seize. The Institute for Justice has published peer-reviewed research showing that New Mexico's forfeiture reform, which abolished civil forfeiture and the financial incentive entirely, had no impact on crime rates in the state.
The Institute for Justice continues to challenge forfeiture practices nationwide. The organization is currently litigating a class action lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration and Drug Enforcement Administration over unconstitutional searches and seizures of travelers' cash, and its advocacy already led the Biden administration to end the DEA's controversial Transportation Interdiction Program. With Colorado's new law in place, property owners facing forfeiture will have a fighting chance—and won't have to fight alone.