Opn. No.

Requestor: Samuel Ungar, Esq., Corporation Counsel City of Long Beach Kennedy Plaza Long Beach, New York 11561

Written by: James D. Cole, Assistant Attorney General in Charge of Opinions

You have asked whether a city is authorized to enact a local law providing for the forfeiture of property used in the commission of a misdemeanor or petty offense.

Local governments are specifically authorized

"[t]o provide for the enforcement of local laws by legal or equitable proceedings . . . [and] to prescribe that violations . . . [of the local laws] shall constitute misdemeanors, offenses, or infractions…