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Articles by Lee McGrath
How does the federal tax credit for scholarship contributions work?
There is cause for celebration! A federal tax credit for contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) was included in the federal budget bill — that was signed into law on July 4, 2025. Known as the Educational Choice for Children Act, this is the first school choice legislation that has passed at the national level, making it a true milestone for education freedom.
COMMENTARY: Bring Nevada police seizures into the light
Law enforcement agencies cannot hide what happened to Marine veteran Stephen Lara on Feb. 19, 2021. Bodycam video from the Nevada Highway Patrol has generated more than 9 million views and dozens of articles. The facts are well-established: The police stopped Lara near Reno, searched his vehicle and took his life savings — nearly $87,000 stored in a backpack with three years’ worth of bank receipts.
Another Voice: New York police audits can’t fix broken forfeiture process
Law enforcement agencies love spending the cash they confiscate from citizens during traffic stops and other encounters, but auditors sometimes push back. The latest dispute is unfolding in Albany County. The sheriff and district attorney both embrace civil forfeiture, a law enforcement maneuver that allows the government to seize and keep assets without convicting anyone of a crime. Property owners can lose currency, cars and other valuables without ever facing arrest.
Tri-City Herald
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Our constitutional rights and the move toward criminal forfeiture
Brett Kittredge and Lee McGrath, Guest Columnists Published 6:00 a.m. CT June 28, 2019 Civil asset forfeiture allows the government to confiscate property on the grounds that it is connected to a crime — without ever convicting someone of the crime. In court, a lower burden of proof applies in these civil cases than in criminal cases, even when valuable property such as the vehicle you drive to work is at stake.
Reform licensing in Pennsylvania
Tuesday, July 03, 2018 12:41AM | MENU ACCOUNT SECTIONS CLASSIFIEDS CONTACT US / FAQ
Column: Scrap the licensing bottleneck
A growing chorus of policymakers across the political spectrum is championing a way to create more jobs for ordinary Americans: reform the nation’s occupational licensing laws. Today, one in four workers in America must obtain government permission to earn an honest living — a dramatic, fivefold increase from the 1950s.
Trump should be appalled by police asset forfeiture, write @LegislativeLee & @nick_sibilla
America’s sheriffs have given President Trump a woefully inaccurate view of civil asset forfeiture—the process through which police seize, and prosecutors literally sue, cash, cars and real estate that they suspect may be connected to a crime. “People want to say we’re taking money and without due process. That’s not true,” a Kentucky sheriff told the president last month at a White House meeting.
McGrath, Sibilla: On forfeiture reform, Congress should learn from Minnesota
With Democrats and Republicans at loggerheads in Washington, D.C., it’s refreshing to find one issue both parties support: the need to protect Americans from abusive police seizures. Under “civil forfeiture” laws, police can seize — and keep — cash, cars and real estate, even if the owner was never convicted of, much less charged with, a crime. This year, the platforms for both the national Republican and Democratic parties endorsed forfeiture reform.
Ride sharing: 10 years of freedom in personal transportation
Ten years ago, “ride sharing” was something parents did driving kids to soccer practice. How times have changed. Today, Uber and Lyft are household names for pairing you with strangers who will safely drive wherever you want to go. But this ongoing transportation revolution is not just the work of Silicon Valley visionaries. An Ecuadorean immigrant in Minneapolis, Luis Paucar, heralded the beginning of this trend.
Pushback Against Government Raids on Personal Property
Law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. have broad power to seize a person’s property, auction it off, and keep the proceeds—without ever having to charge the owner with a crime. Although this practice, known as civil-asset forfeiture, has replenished police-department coffers for years, it is under more scrutiny than ever. Later this month, a bipartisan coalition in California’s legislature will move to curtail the practice in the Golden State.
Minnesota must end 'policing for profit'
Minnesota’s civil forfeiture laws grant police officers, sheriffs and prosecutors perverse incentives to take private property. Despite recent reforms, the state still received a paltry “D+” for its civil forfeiture laws, according to a new report, “Policing for Profit,” released by my law firm, the Institute for Justice. Civil forfeiture is law enforcement authorities’ power to take ownership of cash, vehicles, guns and other personal property suspected of involvement in a crime.
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