Call to Action No. 3- SB 1151 by Whitmire has Many Technical Difficiencies
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 $28 million for what he referred to as "unsustainable" jail overcrowding. Also, the Harris County Jail is now out of compliance with state jail standards.
In the meantime, Senator Whitmire and Representative Ann Johnson have filed bills to require all bondsmen to collect 10% of the face amount of any bond before it is posted seeking to bring the Harris County idea of criminal justice to the entire state.
There are several ways you can get involved. If you are able come to Austin, Texas on Tuesday morning to file out cards opposing SB 1151. This small act can make a big difference. You will not be asked to testify before the committee. We are coordinating the issues that we want to raise and anticipate that our issues will be presented fully.
Additionally, we have initiated an email campaign to the members of the committee. We anticipate that we will have 2-3 email campaigns from now until Tuesday. If you would like to join the fight go to the following site to send the 2nd email of our coming campaign series. Campaign message 3 can be found by CLICKING HERE. Feel free to share this email with your fellow bondsmen, family, friends and employees.
The message is as follows:
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Senator {LegislatorLastName},
I am writing to you to set out several technical defects with SB 1151 that I believe are fatal. Consequently, I am asking you to oppose SB 1151.
Texas has two distinct regulatory statutes that govern bail bondsmen. Small counties are governed by Chapter 17 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Large counties with a population over 110,000 are governed by Chapter 1704 of the Texas Occupations Code. Both types of counties recognize two types of bonding companies that are authorized to write bail in Texas: property bondsmen and agents of insurance companies. SB 1151 says that it only applies to corporate sureties. Therefore, SB 1151 unknowingly gives a competitive advantage to property bondsmen since it states it only applies one of the two types of bondsmen in Texas.
Additionally, SB 1151 states that 10% of the face amount of the bond must be paid to the corporation before the bond is posted. This is contrary to the current practice by the industry and could shut down all corporate bondsmen until fixed. Currently, a premium is paid to the agent and only a small portion of the amount collected is remitted to the insurance company. The percentage is the subject of negoiations with with the agent. Therefore, requiring the corporation to be paid 10% of the face maount of the bond before the bond is posted is not possible.
Further, the way the bill is currently written it could be interpreted that it only applies to corporations and their agents who write bonds in the smallest counties in the state since the bill seeks to amend Chapter 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Since I do not believe that it was the intent of the bill to only apply to the smallest counties in Texas, I feel compelled to point this out. While there are portions of chapter 17 that apply to all of Texas, the bill states that the changes made only apply to corporations governed by chapter 17. Since the largest counties are governed by chapter 1704 of the Texas Occupations Code (The Bail Bond Board Act), it is likely that SB 1151 would not apply to them since there is no amendment to chapter 1704.
At the heart of SB 1151, the bill seeks to fix prices of what bondsmen must charge or collect before posting a bond. This is ironic since the industry is currently in litigation in California alleging improper price fixing. Additionally, the Harris County Bail Bond Board has enacted a local rule seeking to impose some of these same requirements and that local rule is currently being litigated on the grounds that the Harris County Bail Bond Board lacks the authority to engage in price fixing.
Texas is unique in the way that it regulates bail. It is difficult to enact a bill seeking to regulate what bondsmen charge when the bill only seeks to amend one of the two regulatory schemes and will apply only to one of the two types of counties and when the bill will only apply to half of the industry since it does not apply to property bondsmen.
I am asking you to oppose SB 1151 as it currently is written. The Texas Legislature should not engage in price fixing in this industry.
{ParticipantName}
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If you would like to participate in this 3rd email campaign CLICK HERE.
If you have not participated in the 1st email campaign and would like to do so by CLICKING HERE.
If you would like to participate in this 2nd email campaign CLICK HERE.
You can also visit our blog by CLICKING 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.
PBT
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