Call to Action Email Campaign No. 1- HB 227

 

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 regarding SB 227. The message that we are sending is as follows:

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Dear {LegislatorFirstName},

I am asking you to oppose HB 227 by Ann Johnson.

• Texas should not be trying to make it harder for poor people to get out of jail. If a family cannot post a full cash bond, the concept of bail is that the defendant and his family can work with a private surety to post the the bond for the defendant. They are able to work with a bail agent and come up with a reasonable payment schedule while the bondsman insures the full amount of the bond, guaranteeing the defendant's appearance for all court hearings. This is the way bail has worked for decades in Texas.
• For the past 5 years, the news has been filled with stories of bad bail reform and its impact on crime and our communities. Why does Texas need more bail reform? Leave the system alone, it works fine the way it is. All the problems we have today are because of failed bail reform policies. Making it more difficult for people to get out of jail will only fill up the jail and further over burden my county.
• Texas has 254 diverse and unique counties and each one manages its own criminal justice system. Texas is too diverse to assume that a single solution can be applied equally to every county in the State. My county handles the situation right now with no problems. This is a Houston/Harris County problem, not a Texas problem. We should not burden the rest of the state with Harris County's problems.

Sincerely,

{ParticipantName}

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If you are willing to participate in this campaign CLICK HERE.  

Thank you so much for your willingness to assist in getting our messaging out so that we can continue to fight for our industry.