The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

On this Episode of The Bail Post we get a report of the Texas Legislative Session looking at Criminal Justice Issues including SB 1318, SJR 44, HB 227 and others.  We also touch on whether bail will be part of any upcoming Special Sessions and the elephant in the room regarding the Impeachment trial planned for September. Our guest is the PBT Legislative Committee Chair- Scott Walstad. Video version of Podcast- To view on Youtube-  CLICK HERE . Audio only- 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-             

On May 1, 2023, Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1627.  The bill was described as Florida's response to disastrous “bad bail reforms” being pushed by liberal politicians and prosecutors in high-crime jurisdictions throughout the country. In this episode of the Bail Post we discuss HB 1627 and other bail bills passed in the most recent Florida Legislative Session.  Several highlights of the legislations is that the bill: Requires the Florida Supreme Court to develop a uniform statewide bond schedule by the end of the year; and Prohibits the chief judge of a judicial circuit from setting a lower bond amount for a criminal offense than the uniform statewide bond schedule.  “In Florida, we stand for the rule of law, we back our blue, and we treat offenders as they should be treated — not as victims, but as criminals who deserve to be behind bars,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody.“ That’s one of the reasons why we are the fastest growing state in the nation. I am gratefu

  The July 2023 Newsletter for the Professional Bondsmen of Texas has been released.  In this edition of the Newsletter help us celebrate the fact that the PBT podcast has been ranked in the top ten 60 best criminal justice podcasts. Additionally, there are articles reporting on the most recent Texas legislative session, the upcoming PBUS mid-year conference, and the latest podcast from The Bail Post regarding new roll backs of the New York bail reform law. To learn more CLICK HERE . To find more information regarding Bail Reform/Criminal Justice Reform issues visit our Bail 101 page by  CLICKING HERE .

The upcoming mid year Summer Conference for PBUS will be held from July 30, 2023 to August 2, 2023 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.  The conference will include a presentation from PBT regarding its brand new "Call to Action" System that was designed by PBT board member Charlie Pickens and his programmer Justin Draper. A Call to Action system is something that you hope that you will not need when you are dealing with your local legislature.  It is a system that allows your membership to send emails to your representatives and senators asking them to oppose a bill pending before any group whether it be a committee, the House or the Senate of the Legisalture.   PBT has used some form of a call to action system for mutiple sessions.  Initially, PBT designed such pages by hand.  It would take at least 24 hours to program.  Since the system relied heavily on individual programming, there was a high chance of errors being embedded into the system at the very moment that there was little time

  The 2023 Regular Session has ended and we are currently in the Second Special Session.  The Governor has said that he plans to call a series of special sessions to address a host of issues.  Currently, the Texas legislature appears to be deadlocked regarding a plan to implement property tax relief. When the regular session began, the PBT legislative committee was implementing a new bill review process.  Since the last regular session Glenn Strickland passed away and Glenn had been in charge of reviewing all the bills filed to select bills to be tracked.  Therefore, new people were recruited and a new system had to be worked out to review bills once they were filed.  From there, bills that could impact the bail industry or the criminal justict system are identified.  From there, the PBT Legislative Committee chair determines which bills will be tracked by the committee.  Therefore, the committee was tracking over 50 bills during the legislative session.  Here are highlights of some of

  The Professional Bondsmen of Texas, an association, was established in 1970 as the Texas Association of Professional Sureties to support and assist bondsmen in the advancement of their business. In 1978, the name was changed to the Professional Bondsmen of Texas. For over thirty years the membership, comprised of men and women in the bail bond business, have worked diligently to protect the eighth amendment and the American Constitution Bail Provisions.  Additionally, the right to a surety bond is the only release mechanism that is constitutionally protected by the Texas Constitution.  This means that while other forms of release can be restricted by the Texas Legislature, the use of surety bonds cannot be prohibited in Texas without a constitutional amendment passed by Texas voters. Join us in welcoming our newest members and renewing members: Blanca Lozano-Leyva Outlaw Bail Bonds 114 N. Concho Avenue Sonora, TX 76950 Counties: Crockett, Edwards, Kimble 325-387-3367 outlawbailbondsl

Two years ago, a committee of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas decided to look into starting a podcast.  No one on the committee knew anything about how a podcast worked, how it was created, how it was distributed or anything else about the subject.  But the committee decided to work as a team to research among themselves about how to start such an endeavor.  The group set a timeline of three months to research what was needed to be done and what else was needed to make a decision about whether to go forward. In making the decision, it was thought that a podcast could be a vehicle to address various issues in the criminal justice debate that could then serve as a resource to legislatures and politicians as they consider different proposals for Criminal Justice Reform.  The committee ultimately named the podcast "The Bail Post."  This name was not the first choice.  The committee had actually selected another name, but the name had to be changed after it was determined that

New York recently passed the third or fourth round of roll backs of the bail reform it passed at the start of the pandemic.  On this Episode of The Bail Post we learn all about the bail reforms that New York passed and the various roll backs passed since.  Our guest is Michelle Esquenazi who is the President of The National Association of Bail Agents. Video version of Podcast- To view on Youtube- CLICK HERE . Audio only- 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-