AIA agent, Steve Mares, recently wrote an article as a guest columnist for The Greeley Tribune in Colorado. Steve discusses the overarching negative impact that Senate Bill 11-186 will have not only on the tax revenue generated for the state by the bail bond industry, but will also have on the bail bond industry and the families that comprise these essential businesses.
Let Private Bail System Do Its Job
Is it proper for a tax-supported governmental agency to have a stated goal of abolishing legal private businesses, and take the income from the families supported by those businesses to fuel explosive government growth?
That is exactly the situation with Senate Bill 11-186. It is an attempt to abolish the bail bond industry in Colorado.
The bill is being sold by its supporters as “an alternative” that allows the courts to collect the money that defendants usually pay to private bail bond companies to get out of jail — typically about 10 percent of the total bail set by the courts.
This process is called “deposit bail” and has been tried in other places with disastrous results. Once the defendant pays 10 percent of the total amount of the bail and agrees to pay the court the other 90 percent if they don’t show up at trial, they disappear.
In Philadelphia, where this plan has been used for some time, the other 90 percent the city is owed amounts to more than $1 billion, and they are trying to find those 47,000 fugitives who didn’t show up for trial; and the crime rate soars. [Click on the link to read the full story on how Deposit Bail Failed Philadelphia.]
On the other hand, private bail bond agents guarantee the entire bail amount if the defendant fails to appear. If the defendant is a no-show, the private bail agents go find them, or forfeit the entire amount of the bail. On average, forfeitures amount to $2.16 million a year in revenue to the Colorado treasury.
Additionally, the state receives taxes from the bail industry of about $500,000 a year.
About 500 agents are licensed by the state. Their license fees amount to about $40,000 a year.
In total, the bail bond industry provides revenue of $2.7 million to the state each year.
The bail agents now manage, store and protect collateral. This difficult task and cost will be taken over by the government. Bail agents are paid by the accused so their services cost the taxpayers nothing.
The governmental agency with the stated goal of abolishing private bail bonds is Pretrial Services. This agency exists in all but one of the largest Colorado counties and covers about 70 percent of the population. Half of the money that would be collected if SB186 were to become law goes to pretrial release agencies.
This agency gathers information about those who are arrested and provides judges with facts that help in determining whether bail is appropriate and in what form and amount. So far, no problem.
Then a pretrial release agency (Pretrial Services) decides what form of supervision should be imposed on the defendant (who should be presumed innocent under our Constitution) until he or she comes to trial. In many cases, the requirements of supervision are more stringent and punitive than the sentence given by the judge if the defendant is found guilty. A more appropriate name for “Pretrial Services” is “Pretrial Sentencing.” That is where much of the problem lies.
This agency is a governmental bureaucracy on steroids! SB186 will allow explosive growth in Pretrial Services throughout Colorado and fulfill its stated goal of abolishing many jobs in the private bail bond industry, while increasing crime and costing the state $2.7 million in revenue that could be used for courts, schools or other important services.
Please contact your state senator and representative. Ask them to vote no on SB186.
Steve Mares is the vice president and president-elect of the Professional Bail Agents of Colorado.
Original Article:
The Greeley Tribune
Let Private Bail System Do Its Job
By Steve Mares, Guest Columnist