The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

Shocking News.  The Fifth Circuit handed down the long awaited opinion in the Daves case today.  The court starts the opinion by stating the following: "In a second round of en banc review, we conclude that this case, whose aim was to revise by federal decree the Texas state court pocedures for felony and misdemenaor pretrial bail, should neer have been brought in federal court." This is the second en banc decision handed down by the 5th Circuit in the case.  The court remands the case with instructions to DISMISS. The court holds that the trial court should have abstained from hearing the case. To see the opinion CLICK HERE . This is a rapidly moving story.  More to follow. Impressions- ODonnell should never have been filed.  The county has spent over $100 million to implement a settlement that the trial court  How does this impact the Russell v. Harris County case pending in federal court in Houston? How does this impact the Booth v. Galveston County case pending at the 5th

  There will be a hearing before the House Criminal Jurisprudence committee tomorrow. The committee is scheduled for 10:30 am or at the end of the House session. The House is scheduled to go into session at 10:00 am and will we extimate that the session will last a couple of hours. There are two bills on the agenda for consideration: 1.   HB 227 by Ann Johnson. This bill is a companion bill for Whitmire's SB 1151. We expect Whitmire's bill to be voted out of the Senate tomorrow. 2.   HB 4517 by Moody creates a presumption in favor of personal bonds. WAYS YOU CAN HELP: 1.   Plan to come Austin, Texas tomorrow at around 12:00 noon to sign in and register your opposition to these bills. 2.   Dowload our Whitepaper on HB 227 and either hand deliver it or forward it to your sheriff and/or district attoney asking them to contact the committee and let them know that they have issues with the bill. The Whitepaper is available by  CLICKING HERE . 3.   Download our Whitepaper on HB 4517

  On Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 10:3O am. The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will hold a hearing on HB 4517 by Moody. This bill creates a presumption to use personal bonds. This undermines the bail reforms enacted last session as a result of SB 6 last session. We have started an email campaign regarding SB 4517. The message that we are sending is as follows: *** {LegislatorFirstName}, HB 4517 removes accountability and will increase the numbers of failures to appear further stressing court backlogs. This bill will bring the current problem in Harris County and will bring it to the entire state. The research confirms this conclusion: • Harris County entered into a settlement to use almost exclusively simple release for misdemeanor offenses. • The district attorney was the first to issue a report saying that the failures to appear for misdemeanor defendants increased to over 50%. Cite- https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZIzziTYC_BVVsOxoykUGp6U3wWC0pgZb • The Houston Police O

  On Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 10:3O am. The House Criminal Jurisprudence committee will hold a hearing on HB 227 by Ann Johnson. This is a companion bill to Senator Whitmire's bill in the Senate which was voted out of committee last week. The bill seeks to regulate for the first time what bondsmen charge in Texas. This bill grew out of Harris County when local officials sought to blame bondsmen as the cause of increasing crime on the grounds that bondsmen work with families; instead of placing the blame on judges who refuse to do their job. This bill is bad public policy. It makes it more difficult for defendants to get out of jail. It also is an unfunded mandate to counties. Many Texas jails are already overcrowed, this will put pressure on courts to release more defendants with a personal bond which is the worst of both worlds because it will cause more people to fail to appear for court since they will have no supervision or accountability. We have started an email campaign

Help Us Use Our New Feature- CLICK TO CALL to Defeat SB 1151 PBT is announcing the release of a new feature- "CLICK TO CALL." This feature allows you to click to dial the committee members to give their office a three sentence script letting them know that the bail industry opposes SB 1151. If you use the link below on your cell phone, it will give you the list of Senators to call and the script to give to each office. The message is as follows: *** My name is [INSERT NAME]. I am calling on behalf of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas and I am asking you to vote against SB 1151. The bill prevents bondsmen from doing their jobs. It also is a huge unfunded mandate to counties and the bill has many technical deficiencies and contradictions so that it fails to do what it says it will do. Please vote agaisnt SB 1151. (If you are a constitutent of one of the Senators mention that as well). *** If you are willing to participate in our CLICK TO CALL program CLICK HERE . Please use th

  Asking For Your Help- Email No. 3 This is the third of our 3 emails that are planned before the hearing on SB 1151 by Whitmire on Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 8:3O am. before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. The bill seeks to regulate for the first time what bondsmen charge in Texas. This bill grew out of Harris County when local officials sought to blame bondsmen as the cause of increasing crime on the grounds that bondsmen work with families; instead of placing the blame on judges who have refused to do their jobs. Right before the primary last year, the Harris County Bail Bond Board enacted a local rule that required bondsmen to collected 10% of the face amount of the bond before posting the bond for a host of charges. This local rule is the subject of pending litigation and is before the one of the Houston Court of Appeals. We anticipate a ruling in the next 30 to 60 days. Since the enactment of the local rule, the Sheriff of Harris County has requested additional funding of

  Asking For Your Help- Email No. 2 This is the second of our 3 emails that are planned before the hearing on SB 1151. On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 8:3O am., the Senate Criminal Justice Committee will hold a hearing on SB 1151 by Whitmire. The bill seeks to regulate for the first time what bondsmen charge in Texas. This bill grew out of Harris County when local officials sought to blame bondsmen as the cause of increasing crime on the grounds that bondsmen work with families; instead of placing the blame on judges who have refused to do their jobs. Right before the primary last year, the Harris County Bail Bond Board enacted a local rule that required bondsmen to collected 10% of the face amount of the bond before posting the bond for a host of charges. This local rule is the subject of pending litigation and is before the one of the Houston Court of Appeals. We anticipate a ruling in the next 30 to 60 days. Since the enactment of the local rule, the Sheriff of Harris County has reque

  On Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 8:3O am. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will hold a hearing on SB 1151 by Whitmire. The bill seeks to regulate for the first time what bondsmen charge in Texas. This bill grew out of Harris County when local officials sought to blame bondsmen as the cause of increasing crime on the grounds that bondsmen work with families; instead of placing the blame on judges who refuse to do their job. Right befofe the primary last year, the Harris County Bail Bond Board enacted a local rule that required bondsmen to collected 10% of the face amount of the bond for a host of charges. This local rule is the subject of pending litigation and is before the one of the Houston Court of Appeals. We anticipate a ruling in the next 30 to 60 days. Since the enactment of the local rule, the Sheriff of Harris County has requested additional funding of $28 million for what he referred to as "unsustainable" jail overcrowding. Also, the Harris County Jail is now ou

  Patricia Wenskunas is the founder of Crime Survivors (www.crimesurvivors.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing hope and healing to victims and survivors of crime.  Her organization works to ensure that victims and survivors are protected and their rights supported by working closely with law enforcement, the judicial system and the community.  Patricia nearly died in 2002 when she was viciously attacked in her own home by someone she trusted.  A personal trainer, whom she knew and trusted from her local gym, arranged to stop by her condo one day, ostensibly to help her sell Patricia Wenskunasa piece of exercise equipment.  Once there, he rendered her unconscious with a pill that he claimed would help her lose weight.  When Patricia came-to, she found she was undressed, with the trainer on top of her.  While she struggled to get away, the trainer threatened to kill her 12-year-old son, who was not home at the time.  Now enraged, the attacker attempted to suffocate her

Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot attributed her election loss to racism and sexism in comments to reporters Tuesday night, glossing over the impact of violent crime, which surged in the windy city during her tenure. “I’m a black woman in America. Of course,” she replied when asked by a reporter if she had been treated unfairly, according to the New York Post. Lightfoot neglected to mention that Johnson is also black. Lightfoot is the first black woman and the first openly gay person to lead the nation’s third-largest city. She has been heavily criticized for the rampant crime in Chicago and the demonization of the police. While Lightfoot initially supported cutting the city’s police budget, she has since pivoted. Violent crime in the city increased by 40 percent since she was elected in 2019 on a promise to bring down crime rates, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. To see more CLICK HERE . Commentary-  Question:  When we elect someone based upon identity politics, do the voters ever get to ev

  In January 2023, the Council that governs the District of Columbia unanimously passed a revised criminal code which lowered the criminal penalties for many violent crimes including carjacking.  One report referred to the district as the "District of Crime."  To see more CLICK HERE .  For a defense of the changes  CLICK HERE . The D.C. Mayor vetoed the changes arguing several of the provisions that sought to reduce penalties for some crimes would send “the wrong message” and overwhelm the district’s court system.  To see more CLICK HERE . The D.C. Council overrode the Mayor's veto.   CLICK HERE . Therefore, the new code would go into effect unless it was blocked by Congress. February 9, 2023-  The House of Representatives passed a resolution to overturn the law.  The vote was 250-173 vote, with 31 Democrats joining Republicans.   CLICK HERE .  (This is probably one of the most bi-partisan votes that there has been in the House in some time). The Senate may vote next week

  Over the past two years, Democrats who embraced a liberal criminal justice agenda at the city level have found themselves increasingly unwelcome among voters who once applauded their views. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot became the latest liberal leader to discover Democratic voters have soured on the Left’s leniency on crime when she became the first mayor of her city in 40 years to lose reelection this week. In Atlanta, for example, former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms surprised political observers when she decided in 2021 not to run for reelection, announcing that it was “time to pass the baton on to someone else."  A crime wave in Atlanta sapped her political goodwill, however, and the race among the Democrats vying to replace her centered on which candidate was prepared to crack down more aggressively on crime.   In Seattle, former Mayor Jenny Durkan filed paperwork to run for reelection in early 2020.  But the violence of that summer in Seattle — and her failure to get it under