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D I D YOU KNOW? Corporations VOTED
to adopt this. Through ALEC, global companies
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as “equals” in “unison” with politicians to write laws to govern your life. Big
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Behind closed doors, they
Civil Justice
ghostwrite
“model” bills to
Did you know the
be introduced
in Insurance,
state
Commerce,
Bail Forfeiture Relief and Remission Act
NRA--the
National
capitols
across
the country.
and
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This Act grants a bail agent a remission period to recover a fugitive that has skipped bail,
jobs and gut minimum
even after the time deadline for a bail agent to recover that person has passed and the
wage,Health
and efforts
to
and Human
bail agent has paid the forfeiture judgment. If the bondsman recovers the fugitive during
Services
weaken
public health,
the remission period, the bondsman can recover all or part of the forfeiture judgment
safety, and environmental
paid. This bill is designed to enhance public safety by giving the bail agent a financial
International Relations
incentive to locate and recover the fugitive, in addition to serving both the interests of
protections. Although many
the courts and of public safety.
of these
bills
have
become
Public Safety and
Elections
law, until
now, their origin
has been largely unknown.
Tax and Fiscal Policy
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EXPOSED, the
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and Information
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Americans
will study the
bills to understand the
Section 1. {Definitions}
depth and Print
breadth
of how
this Page
big corporations are
Text-Only Page
changing the legal rules
Section 2. {Forfeiture of Bail}
and undermining
democracy
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across the nation.
1. A court shall in open court declare forfeited the bail bond if, without sufficient excuse,
a defendant fails to appear for any of the following:

ALEC’s’Corporate Board
--in recent past or present

• AT&T Services, Inc.
• centerpoint360
• UPS
• Bayer Corporation
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Energy Future Holdings
• Johnson & Johnson
• Coca-Cola Company
• PhRMA
• Kraft Foods, Inc.
• Coca-Cola Co.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Reed Elsevier, Inc.
• DIAGEO
• Peabody Energy
• Intuit, Inc.
• Koch Industries, Inc.
• ExxonMobil
• Verizon
• Reynolds American Inc.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Salt River Project
• Altria Client Services, Inc.
• American Bail Coalition
• State Farm Insurance
For more on these corporations,
search at www.SourceWatch.org.

a. Arraignment;

b. Trial;

c. Judgment; or

d. Any other occasion prior to the pronouncement of judgment in which the defendant’s
presence in court is lawfully required.

2. The clerk of the court shall, within thirty (30) days of the entry of the forfeiture, mail
notice of the forfeiture to the surety and to the bail agent whose names are printed on
the bond. The bond shall plainly display the mailing address of both the statutory home
office of the corporate surety and the bail agent. The forfeiture shall be mailed to the
surety at the statutory home office and to the bail agent and mailing alone to the surety
or the bail agent shall not constitute compliance with this Section.

3. The surety or depositor shall be released of all obligations under the bond if any of the
following conditions apply:

a. The clerk fails to mail notice of forfeiture in accordance with this Section within thirty
(30) days after the entry of the forfeiture; or

Exposed

By the Center for
Media and Democracy
www.prwatch.org

b. The clerk fails to mail the notice of forfeiture to the surety at the address printed on
the bond; or

c. The clerk fails to mail a copy of the notice of forfeiture to the bail agent at the address
printed on the bond.

Section 3. {Relief from Forfeiture} If the defendant appears either voluntarily or

in custody after surrender or arrest in court within one hundred eighty (180) days of the
date of the mailing of the notice of forfeiture, the court shall on its own motion at the
time that the defendant first appears in court on the case in which the forfeiture was
entered, direct the order for forfeiture be vacated and the bond exonerated. If the court
fails to so act on its own motion, then the surety’s obligations under the bond shall be
immediately vacated and the bond exonerated.

Section 4. {Payment of Summary Judgment and Remission} If, prior to the

expiration of the one hundred eighty (180) day period, the surety or bail agent deposits
funds in the full amount of the bail bond into an escrow account maintained by the court,
then the original one hundred eighty (180) day period shall be extended by an additional
one hundred eighty (180) days. Timely payment of these funds is a condition precedent
to the one hundred eighty (180) day extension and shall not be waived by any court. The
court may impose a fee of up to fifty dollars ($50.00) for the cost of maintaining the
escrow account. If within the extension period the order forfeiting bail is vacated and the
bail bond exonerated for any reason, the Superior Court shall within thirty (30) days of
the entry of such order return to the party that deposited the funds the formerly
deposited funds plus interest, if any. After entry of summary judgment pursuant to
Section 4., or after a final decision upholding the summary judgment on appeal, the
Superior Court shall utilize funds deposited into the escrow account to satisfy the
summary judgment. If the summary judgment is reversed, the bond amount shall be
returned to the party that deposited the funds within thirty (30) days of the filing of the
remitter reversing the summary judgment.

Section 5. {Non-Payment; Report to Department of Insurance} Within thirty
(30) days of the expiration of the initial one hundred eighty (180) day period, assuming
that the deposit described in Section 3 has not been made, summary judgment shall be
entered against the surety on the bond within thirty (30) days. In the event that the
deposit is made, the summary judgment shall be entered within thirty (30) days. If the
surety fails to satisfy the summary judgment within thirty (30) days of entry shall result
in a suspension of that surety’s right to post bail in the state. Additionally, the court shall
notify the state Division of Insurance of the surety’s non-payment.

Section 6. {Severability}

Section 7. {Effective Date}

Adopted by the Criminal Justice Task Force at the States and Nation Policy Summit,.
December 4, 2004. Approved by the ALEC Board of Directors January 7, 2005.

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Center for Media
and Democracy's
quick summary:
This bill extends the period for a bail bondsman to pay the bail forfeiture owed to the state, and creates notification burdens on the clerk of court that
could make it easier for a bailbondsman to avoid financial liability. Typically, an accused person pays a bondsman 10% of their bail, with the
understanding that the bondsman is liable for the full amount of the bail if the person fails to appear at court; if the person does not show up, the bail
bondsman is responsible for finding the person. This Act extends the period for which a bailbondsman can track-down a person before owing the full
amount of bail.
Additionally, this Act specifies that the bondsman will no longer be liable for the payment if court staff do not follow certain notification procedures. This
has the effect of establishing new burdens on the clerk of courts, and allows the bailbondsman to avoid payment if the clerk does not meet those
burdens. There is a long history of bailbondsmen influencing courts. A clerk's failure to meet the procedural notification requirements could be
negligence or an intentional act to benefit a particular bondsman.