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Q&A
DOI's reliance on forfeiture funds for budget needs
0:33:01
ยท
129 sec
Council Member Krishnan expresses concern about DOI's reliance on forfeiture proceeds from an old case to fund its operations. Commissioner Strauber explains the current financial situation and the limited nature of these funds.
- Strauber confirms that DOI received an unexpected infusion of forfeiture funds from a decades-old case
- The commissioner estimates that at the current spending rate, these funds will last no more than two years
- Krishnan expresses shock at the situation, calling it 'unacceptable' that DOI has to rely on such funds for core operations
- The council member criticizes the current administration for not providing adequate funding and independence to DOI
Shekar Krishnan
0:33:01
That'd be very helpful.
0:33:02
Thank you.
0:33:03
And my final question is just on your testimony about forfeiture, are you telling me that a lot of the DOI budget is funded from forfeiture proceeds from a case going back to 2011?
Jocelyn E. Strauber
0:33:16
We we were very lucky in, I believe, 2023 or 2024 to unexpectedly receive an infusion of forfeiture funds that I think came from a more recent identification of properties subject to forfeiture, yes, from a case, you know, that decades old at this point.
Shekar Krishnan
0:33:33
And sorry, you said it before, I missed it.
0:33:36
When do those forfeiture funded parts of the agency, when does that expire, those forfeiture funds?
Jocelyn E. Strauber
0:33:42
Well, there's no expiration, but there's a limited amount of money.
0:33:46
So, you know, we have been essentially running our operational needs on forfeiture for the past year or so, if not going back a little bit further.
0:33:56
And eventually, you know, that money is gonna run out, which will depend on, you know, what our technology needs are.
0:34:01
Obviously, we've had some technology upgrades.
0:34:03
We've had this new case management system.
0:34:05
So the $10,500,000 in spending recently may be a little high, but eventually we're going to be out of money.
Shekar Krishnan
0:34:11
Right.
0:34:12
I guess I misstated.
0:34:13
I don't mean expired, but I meant more is it sounds like a lot of it comes from a very old case.
0:34:17
And so when will those funds run out?
0:34:19
Do you have some sort of sense of when that would be?
Jocelyn E. Strauber
0:34:22
Well, if if we continue to spend at this rate, I think we'd have, like, at a 10,000,000 per year rate, I think we'd have no more than two or so years left.
Shekar Krishnan
0:34:36
That's shocking.
Jocelyn E. Strauber
0:34:36
I'm getting nods from the people who know.
UNKNOWN
0:34:38
Right.
0:34:39
So
Shekar Krishnan
0:34:39
yeah.
0:34:39
Well, that's shocking.
0:34:40
And I would just say, you know, my point is I I appreciate your testimony about recommendations to independent.
0:34:47
I think it's very unacceptable and shocking and we're seeing with this administration to not only have no sort of checks and balances of independence from DOI but on top of that to provide such little funding for DOI that they're relying on forfeiture proceeds from a case that's more than a decade old to fund core operations and to state that for the record.
0:35:08
Thank you so much chair.
0:35:09
Thank you for the time.