The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

  Changes are coming to New York’s controversial bail reform laws. The changes come in the state budget. Republicans say it’s not enough and progressives say it went too far, but a recently released poll of voters showed the state needed to do something. “In 2019, there was a major shake-up in New York state politics because the Democrats came to control the Senate,” SUNY Plattsburgh Political Science Professor Harvey Schantz said. The Democrats were also the majority in the Assembly and held the governor’s seat with then-governor Andrew Cuomo. “Elimination of cash bail is something the progressive Democrats wanted and it was put into law,” Schantz said. The New York Legislature passed bail reform in 2019 which eliminated cash bail and the judge’s discretion of setting bail to most misdemeanor and nonviolent crimes. The state says this is to keep people out of jail as they wait for their day in court. “As soon as that passed, law and order and the rise in crime became a political campa

  Police unions and Mayor Eric Adams ripped into Gov. Kathy Hochul’s planned fixes to New York’s controversial bail reform law through the negotiated state budget, saying they don’t go far enough and amount to “window dressing” “Although I commend them on steps they took towards dealing with public safety — something that people said was impossible for us to get done — but clearly, there’s more to be done” to clean up soaring crime in the Big Apple, Hizzoner said on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” ahead of his 100th day in office. Big Apple police union leaders had more pointed critiques of the Albany criminal justice changes agreed to in the budget process announced by Hochul on Thursday. “New Yorkers should pay close attention to the words Gov. Hochul and the legislative leaders are using. Their priority is to make New Yorkers ‘feel safer,’ not to provide real public safety,” Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch said in a statement Friday. “Their proposed changes are politic

Shelly Alexander is the President of the Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents (TAPBA).  She  was the Office Manager and a Bail Bondsman for Danny Blankenship Bonding until his sudden passing in 2017. At that time Shelly opened A Close Bonding Co., LLC, which has 17 agents in West and Middle Tennessee serving 23 counties. Ms. Alexander has been a volunteer for the Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents (TAPBA) for nine years and has served on the TAPBA Education Committee for eight years.  Ms. Alexander was born and raised in Reagan, TN. She currently resides in Lexington, TN. She is the mother to five (Jarrod, Jasmine,  Jordan, Alexis and Eli) of which two were adopted from the Department of Children Services in 2018 and have proven to be nothing less than amazing.  Jasmine and Jordan are both bail bondsmen. Also, Ms. Alexander is the proud MiMi of three grand girls and has a grandson on the way. Will Rainey is a member of the board of directors of TAPBA and is

  As our colleagues in the Michigan Legislature weigh whether to take up a bail reform proposal, we think it’s important to take a step back and look at the concerning results produced by similar reforms made in states like New York and California. House Bills 5436, 5441, 5442 and 5443, introduced in the Michigan House last fall, would severely limit judicial discretion and require our local judges to release anyone who is arrested for certain crimes without bail, regardless of the circumstances involved. To see more CLICK HERE .

  Glenn Beck discusses the cause of rising crime with Bill O'Reilly. The two discuss how George Soros is MAJORLY to blame for rising crime in some of our largest cities, even though most Americans are unaware of his culpability, Bill O’Reilly says. Also, O'Reilly breaks down how the ‘prince of darkness’ is funding campaigns for RADICAL district attorneys everywhere from New York City to San Francisco. Crime, thanks to Soros is getting SO bad, O’Reilly says, that citizens in some cities could be in everyday danger without even realizing it… 

  Seattle’s Link Light Rail is a freeloader’s paradise. There are no turnstiles, so passengers are supposed to either buy a ticket or tap their pre-paid card. But so few riders are paying, fares are currently covering just 5% of the system’s operating costs, a fraction of the 40% mark Sound Transit set as a requirement. At a recent Sound Transit Board meeting, the outgoing CEO summed up the situation. “Our fare collection system relies overwhelmingly on an honor system,” Peter Rogoff said, “and our increasingly acute problem is that our riders aren’t honoring the system.” By one measurement, as many as a staggering 70% of all passengers are free riders. But even that is only an estimate as there is almost no fare enforcement. Sound Transit did away with fare enforcement officers after a study revealed people of color were disproportionately getting fined. Instead, the system now relies on fare ambassadors. There are only a handful for the whole light rail system, so riders will rarely

Topo Padilla is a second generation bondsmen from California.  On this episode of the Bail Post, Mr. Padilla discusses bail in California and other bail reform issues across the country.   Mr. Padilla is the newly elected President of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States. Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE Google Podcasts-        CLICK HERE Podcast Index-            CLICK HERE Amazon Music-          CLICK HERE Stitcher-                      CLICK HERE iHeart-                        CLICK HERE TuneIn + Alexa          CLICK HERE Podcast Addict-          CLICK HERE Podchaser-                  CLICK HERE Pocket Casts-              CLICK HERE Deezer-                       CLICK HERE   Listen Notes-             CLICK HERE Audible-                     CLICK HERE PlayerFM-                 CLICK HERE Other Episodes of "The Bail Post"-           CLICK HERE Subject Index to The Bail Post Podcast-   CLICK HERE

  New York state lawmakers are closing in on an agreement that could expand the circumstances in which cash bail would be required to include charges like gun trafficking as well as alleged repeat offenses, a top Democrat in the state Senate on Tuesday said.  The development comes as lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are close to putting the finishing touches on a broader state budget agreement, which had been expected to pass on Friday.  Democratic lawmakers who control both chambers of the state Legislature, as well as Gov. Kathy Hochul, have been under pressure to make changes to the 2019 bail law that largely ended cash bail requirements for many criminal charges. Advocates for the measure had contended the law was meant to keep low-income defendants out of jail for legnthy periods of time while awaiting trial.  But a national rise in violent crime has led to renewed concerns over public safety among voters in New York and spurred calls for changes ahead of the coming campaign season

  Houston police are searching for two aggravated robbery suspects they said beat an employee at a bail bonds business in early March. According to police, on March 2, two armed men entered the business in the 3800 block of Fulton around 6 a.m. Once inside, they both struck an employee in the head numerous times while telling him to open the safe. The suspects forced the employee to the ground and took the money from the safe. The suspects fled the scene in an unknown direction. The first suspect is described as between 21 and 30 years old, 6 feet 1 inch tall, and was wearing a white shirt and gray pants. The second suspect is also believed to be between 21 and 30 years old, and was wearing a black shirt and black pants. Information leading to the charging and/or arrest of any felony suspects may result in a cash payment up to $5,000. Tipsters must contact Crime Stoppers directly to remain anonymous and to be considered for a cash payment by calling 713-222-TIPS (8477), submitting an o

  New York lawmakers on Monday will likely pass an extension to keep the state running while negotiations over the budget continue, Assemblymember Latrice Walker told the PIX11 Morning News. State legislators failed to agree on a budget by Friday’s deadline. Amid heated debates over bail reform, funding for a Buffalo Bills stadium and other critical issues, lawmakers chose to leave Albany early on Thursday and resume negotiations on Monday. Walker told PIX11 News she does not expect a budget to be passed by the end of the day. Passing a stop-gap measure while lawmakers hammer out budget details will ensure that state employees receive their paychecks. Walker said she’s on Day 14 of a hunger strike in protest over proposed changes to the state’s bail reform law, which were introduced by Gov. Kathy Hochul amid a spike in violent crimes in New York City. While some Democrats don’t want any changes made to the bail reform law, Republicans have called for it to be repealed. Walker said lawm

  The April 2022 Newsletter for the Professional Bondsmen of Texas has been released.  In this editiion of the newsletter, you will find five articles.  The first article highlights the Villareal family, bondsmen in Tom Green County and the volunteer work they do with children. You will also find an article about Right on Crime.  This is a continuation of a series started in our last quarter's newsletter where PBT has taken a historical few of past positions of Right on Crime to see how they stood up to the test of time.  This newsletter reviews Right on Crime's position on New York's disasterous bail reform. Additionally, you will find an article from New Mexico discussing the Arnold Foundation Risk Assessment tool which recently recommended release of an individual charged with a double murder. The next article is addressing an issue out of Houston where there is a discussion about why crime is increasing so much there.  The advocates of bail reform in Houston have chosen

  Time is money has a different meaning when it comes to the New York budget. Gov. Hochul and legislative leaders failed to finalize the state’s spending plan Thursday, blowing past a midnight deadline as a consensus on bail law overhauls remained elusive. Lawmakers headed for the exits and did not expect to be back in the State Capitol until Monday despite the Democratic-led Senate and Assembly and Hochul administration being “close” on several key issues, according to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers). The stalemate over the spending measure was centered on Hochul’s 11th-hour pitch to include public safety proposals and a last-minute announcement that the state would toss $600 million to the Buffalo Bills for a new stadium. “There are certainly a lot of things that we are weighing that were not in the original governor’s budget presentation,” Stewart-Cousins said. “That being said, we are working through them.” While agreements were reached on several measures