PROTECTING THE FUTURE OF THE BAIL INDUSTRY
By Brad A. Greenberg
There is an old saying that goes, whether you are on your way to heaven or hell you have to pass through Atlanta.
Atlanta, Georgia, the Southeast’s major economic hub, was a logical location for the recent Southeast Region Agents Conference. It’s a short flight from the five states represented at the conference and a reasonable drive for those who didn’t want to fly. Atlanta has a booming population and is home to an increasingly important business community of Coca-Cola and CNN. It also offered a focused work environment and an entertaining night scene for agents wanting to double-dip during their stay. But the AIA executives’ decision to choose Atlanta went further than comfort and convenience. It was a strategic public relations move.
Georgia is not a bail-friendly state. It’s an old-fashioned place – like the Carolinas and Virginia, Missouri, Mississippi and Alabama – where sheriffs are wary of out-of-town bonding sureties and more secure in their decades-old practice of dealing face-to-face with local property bondsmen.
AIA, which has been underwriting bail since 1904, let Georgia authorities know they were coming to town by inviting each sheriff to the conference and by informing legislative offices. Those were important gestures because Georgia almost became a state effectively off-limits to bail sureties during this past legislative session.
A bill supported by the State Association of Sheriffs and Georgia property bondsmen was introduced in the state House of Representatives that would have allowed each sheriff – and there are more than 150 – to arbitrarily set a security deposit that each bail insurance company would have to fund before doing business in that county. That would have essentially locked AIA out of a growing market and set a dangerous precedent that could have had a domino effect across other states.