SB 550 — Modify Surety/Bail Bond/Bondsmen Provisions.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2021 S 21 SENATE BILL 550 Judiciary Committee Substitute Adopted 9/8/21 Short Title:

Senators Britt, Craven, and Lazzara (Primary Sponsors).

Rules and Operations of the Senate April 6, 2021 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO MODIFY QUALIFICATIONS AND TESTING PROCEDURES FOR BAIL BONDSMEN AND RUNNERS AND TO MODIFY VARIOUS PROVISIONS RELATED TO BAIL BOND FORFEITURES AND BAIL BOND SURETIES.

"(9) Be a legal resident or a documented citizen of the United States of America." SECTION 1.(b) This section is effective when it becomes law and applies to applications submitted on or after that date.

15A-53115A-544.3(b) reads as rewritten:

"§"(b) 15A-531.The forfeiture shall contain the following information:

Definitions.… *S550-v-1* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 (9) The following notice:

*S550-v-2* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 As used in this Article the following definitions apply unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

… (4a) "Charitable bail organization" means an organization that solicits or accepts donations from the public for the purpose of depositing money to secure appearance bonds required under G.S.

15A-534(a)(4).

…." SECTION 3.(b) G.S.

15A-544.2 reads as rewritten:

"§ 15A-544.2.

Identifying information on bond.

(a) The following information shall be entered on each bail bond executed under Part 1 of this Article:

(1) The name and mailing address of the defendant.

(2) The name and mailing address of any accommodation bondsman executing the bond as surety.

(3) The name and license number of any professional bondsman executing the bond as surety and the name and license number of the runner executing the bail bond on behalf of the professional bondsman.

(4) The name of any insurance company executing the bond as surety, and the name, license number, and power of appointment number of the bail agent executing the bail bond on behalf of the insurance company.

(5) The name and mailing address of any surety executing the bond and, if any surety executing the bond is acting on behalf of a charitable bail organization, the name and mailing address of the charitable bail organization.

(b) If a defendant is released upon execution of a bail bond that does not contain all the information required by subsection (a) of this section, the defendant's order of pretrial release may be revoked as provided in G.S.

15A-534(f)." SECTION 3.(c) G.S.

15A-544.3 reads as rewritten:

"§ 15A-544.3.

Entry of forfeiture.

(a) If a defendant who was released under Part 1 of this Article upon execution of a bail bond fails on anyoccasion to appear before the court as required, the court shall enter a forfeiture for the amount of that bail bond in favor of the State against the defendant and against each surety on the bail bond.

(b) The forfeiture shall contain the following information:

(1) The name and address of record of the defendant.

(2) The file number of each case in which the defendant's appearance is secured by the bail bond.

(3) The amount of the bail bond.

(4) The date on which the bail bond was executed.

(5) The name and address of record of each surety on the bail bond.bond and, if any surety acted on behalf of a charitable bail organization, the name and mailing address of the charitable bail organization.

… (9) The following notice:

(i) the defendant's failure to appear has been stricken by the court in which the defendant was required to appear and any Page 2 Senate Bill 550-Second Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 order for arrest that was issued for that failure to appear is recalled, (ii) all charges for which the defendant was bonded to appear have been finally disposed by the court other than by the State's taking a voluntary dismissal with leave, (iii) the defendant has been surrendered by a surety or bail agent to a sheriff of this State as provided bylaw, (iv) the defendant has been served with an Order for Arrest for the Failure to Appear on the criminal charge in the case in question as evidenced by a copy of an official court record, including an electronic record, (v) the defendant died before or within the period between the forfeiture and the final judgment as demonstrated by the presentation of a death certificate, (vi) the defendant was incarcerated in a unit of the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety and is serving a sentence or in a unit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons located within the borders of the State at the time of the failure to appear as evidenced by a copy of an official court record or a copy of a document from the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice of the Department of Public Safety or Federal Bureau of Prisons, or (vii) the defendant was incarcerated in a local, state, or federal detention center, jail, or prison located anywhere within the borders of the United States at the time of the failure to appear, or between the failure to appear and the final judgment date, and the district attorney for the county in which the charges are pending was notified of the defendant's incarceration while the defendant was still incarcerated and the defendant remains incarcerated for a period of 10 days following the district attorney's receipt of notice, as evidenced by a copy of the written notice served on the district attorney via hand delivery or certified mail and written documentation of date upon which the defendant was released from incarceration, if the defendant was released prior to the time the motion to set aside was filed.

Further, no surety will be allowed to execute any bail bond in the above county until the final judgment is satisfied in full."full."" SECTION 3.(d)3.(b) G.S.This section is effective when it becomes law and applies to forfeitures entered on or after that date.

SECTION 4.(a) G.S.

Page 2 Senate Bill 550-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 "(b) Reasons for Set Aside.

(9) The court refused to issue an order for arrest for the defendant's failure to appear, as evidenced by a copy of an official court record, including an electronic record." SECTION3.(e)SECTION TheNorthCarolinaAdministrativeOfficeoftheCourts(AOC)shall4.(b) compileThis thesection following:is effective when it becomes law and applies to forfeitures set aside on or after that date.

(1)SECTION The5. total number of bail bonds executed.

Senate Bill 550-Second Edition Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 (2) The total number of bail bonds executed by a surety acting on behalf of a charitable bail organization represented as a percentage of the total number of bail bonds executed.