Participating Agencies Generally Get Their Way

Agency participation and revenue vary, but one thing does not: When it comes to equitable sharing, state and local agencies largely get their way. When agencies submit requests for sharing, those requests are typically granted; when agencies request a specific percentage of an asset’s value, that share is generally approved; and when proceeds are shared, state and local agencies generally receive a majority. In short, for state and local agencies, equitable sharing’s financial promise is usually realized. This likely encourages agencies’ continued participation in the program.

The most obvious way in which agencies get their way is by having their equitable sharing requests granted. Using data from the DOJ’s Consolidated Asset Tracking System, we found that from 2000 to 2023, the DOJ granted 92% of agency requests for equitable sharing. But even this understates how often agencies’ requests were granted. When requests were denied, it was almost always because there was no money available to be shared. This can occur when other agencies have already claimed all available proceeds or when the expenses associated with an asset exceed its value. Among requests where money was available to be shared, the DOJ granted 99%. While grant rates have been slightly lower in recent years, they remain high: In 2023, the DOJ granted 85% of all requests and 98% of requests when funds were available. (See Figure 26.)

Figure 26: When funds were available, equitable sharing requests were almost always granted

Not only does the DOJ almost always grant agencies’ requests, but it also usually approves the percentage shares agencies request. To assess how often agencies’ requested percentages were approved, we used data from a form that required agencies to specify the percentage of an asset’s value they were requesting, up to the maximum allowable 80%. While a new form without the percentage requested field was introduced in 2014, some agencies continued to use the old form for years, including a handful that were still using it in 2023. ¹  That said, the vast majority of old forms with the percentage requested field were submitted in 2016 or earlier. ²  

These forms show the DOJ typically approved the percentages agencies requested. ³  For 78% of requests, the DOJ approved exactly the share agencies requested, while for another 4% of requests, it approved a larger share. Only 18% of requests were not approved in full. ⁴  (See Figure 27.) But even then, the approved share was often in the ballpark: About half were within 10 percentage points of what agencies asked for.   ⁵

Figure 27: Equitable sharing requests were usually approved in full

Our data also show that when proceeds are shared, state and local agencies combine to receive a majority. From 2000 to 2023, all state and local agencies combined received 65% of available proceeds on average, leaving 35% for the federal government. The percentage has declined slightly over the past decade, falling from a peak of 70% in 2010 to 59% in 2023, a drop that appears related to a federal policy reform restricting a certain type of equitable sharing forfeitures, which we turn to next. ⁶