See the excerpt written below by The St. Pete Times in regards to county officials deciding not to oppose limits on pretrial release:<\/i><\/p>\n
Pretrial release<\/a>: The bail bonds industry<\/b> won a subtle victory during last week’s meeting.<\/p>\n The county had opposed bills last spring that would have restricted the number of people eligible for release from jail without bond. Bail bonds<\/a> lobbyists pressed hard for the bills, which sought to limit the pool to poor people.<\/p>\n Sheriff Jim Coats said the effect would cost taxpayers $5 million to staff and operate extra jail space, because fewer people would be released.<\/p>\n “Obviously that kind of goes against the point of the bail bondsmen<\/b> and folks being able to pay their way,” Harness said.<\/p>\n Commissioners Neil Brickfield, Nancy Bostock and Norm Roche objected, leading to a 3-3 vote that muted the county’s voice against any legislation for the upcoming session. Karen Seel was absent.<\/p>\n “This is a case of the government competing directly against bail bondsmen,” said Brickfield, who did public relations work for bail bonds<\/b> companies before being elected in 2008.<\/p>\n Click on the following link to read the entire article, Pinellas County sets lobbying priorities, beach nourishment among them<\/a>. See the excerpt written below by The St. Pete Times in regards to county officials deciding not to oppose limits on pretrial release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[63],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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