The Drug Forfeiture Account is a fund established for the use
of the District Attorney and administered by the Controller's
Office. This account was created pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 6801
et seq. These sections provide that all drugs, paraphernalia, cash,
property, property used to facilitate drug transactions, etc., shall
be subject to forfeiture to the commonwealth and no property right
shall exist in them.
The cash or proceeds of forfeited property transferred to the
custody of the District Attorney shall be placed in the operating
fund of the county, after which the appropriate county authority is
to immediately release from the operating fund, without restriction,
a like amount for the use of the District Attorney enforcing the provisions
of the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. The Act further provides that it shall be the responsibility
of every county to provide, through the Controller, an annual audit
of all forfeited property and proceeds obtained under this Article,
which audit shall not be made public but shall be submitted to the
Office of Attorney General. The Attorney General shall then submit
a report to the Appropriations and Judiciary Committees of the Senate
and the House of Representatives giving an accounting of all proceeds
derived from the sale of forfeited property and the use made of unsold
forfeited property.
In consideration of the Controller establishing the Drug Forfeiture
Account, the District Attorney has agreed to comply with county policy
regarding purchases and expenditures. In light of the fact, however,
that such expenditures are not a matter of public record, the Controller
is not authorized to release any information regarding the account
other than through its annual audit to the Attorney General. By statute,
the expenditures pursuant to the account are at the complete discretion
of the District Attorney, and the entity having budgetary control
shall not anticipate future forfeitures or proceeds therefrom in adoption
and approval of the budget for the District Attorney.