SB 213 — Relating to the Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993; to amend Sections 15-13-107, 15-13-111, 15-13-114, 15-13-118, 15-13-125, 15-13-128, 15-13-131, 15-13-132, 15-13-134, 15-13-136, 15-13-137, 15-13-138, 15-13-139, 15-13-140, 15-13-141, 15-13-145, 15-13-159, 15-13-160, and 15-13-164, Code of Alabama 1975, to provide for the acceptance of certain filing fees by the sheriff or jailer; to further define cash bail and property bail; to provide further for the arrest and delivery of a defendant to jail by a surety with no court costs to be entered on the surety; to provide that a surety not be charged for a bondsman's process or for a certified copy of a bond; to require the license number of the bondsman or recovery on a bondsman's process form; to allow a surety to sign for a forfeiture with the clerk of the ordering court; to increase the time frame for which the ordering court has jurisdiction over a forfeiture action; to authorize a bail bondsman to file motions, answers, and notices relating to a defendant who is out on bond with that bondsman; to increase the time frames for providing notice and conducting hearings in conditional forfeiture proceedings; to remove the requirement that a conditional judgment to set aside be made absolute for the entire sum; to provide further for instances when a court may set aside forfeiture and may not release a defendant on judicial public bail; to provide further for eligibility for judicial public bail; to provide further for the amount of new corporate surety bonds and escrow agreements required in counties with populations of 200,000 or more; to provide further for criminal penalties for certain unlawful behavior; to make nonsubstantive, technical revisions to update the existing code language to current style; and in connection therewith would have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of Section 111.05 of the Constitution of Alabama of 2022.

SB213 ENGROSSEDENROLLED B0S94Q-2B0S94Q-3 By Senators Sessions, Williams RFD:

18-Apr-23 2023 Regular Session Page 0 SB213 EngrossedEnrolled 2Enrolled, 4An AAct, BILL3 TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT 9 Relating to the Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993;

to remove the Page 1 SB213 Engrossed requirement that a conditional judgment to set aside be made absolute for the entire sum;

to provide further for Page 1 SB213 Enrolled the amount of new corporate surety bonds and escrow agreements required in counties with populations of 200,000 or more;

Page 2 SB213 Engrossed (c) Only judicial officers and circuit, district, and municipal court clerks or a designee of the court may accept and approve appeal bonds and cash bonds.

Provided, however, that any person designated by the court to receive cash bonds, shall be bonded to receive court moneys monies and have the Page 2 SB213 Enrolled written approval of their chief administrative officer.

Page 3 SB213 Engrossed The clerks may accept business checks, cashiers checks, certified checks, money orders, or cash.

Any check or money order shall be cashed within 90 days of receipt." "§15-13-111 For persons arrested and taken into custody, there Page 3 SB213 Enrolled shall be four kinds of bail used in this state.

The four kinds of bail 95 shall be judicial public bail, cash bail, property bail, and professional surety bail.

Cash bail is when the defendant or some person on behalf of the defendant deposits cash in an amount equal to a part or the total sum of the bail as set by the 95 judicial officer to the clerk of the court having jurisdiction over the case.

Professional surety bail is when a defendant is released on bail by having a professional surety or professional bail company execute a Page 4 SB213 Engrossed bond on behalf of the defendant and becoming surety on the bail.

Property bail is when a defendant is released on bail by having at least one or more real property Page 4 SB213 Enrolled owners that own real property in the State of Alabama state, execute or become bail or surety for the defendant.

Page 5 SB213 Engrossed (5) Issuance of Issues any order of restitution or payments received from the defendant to the court for fines, court costs, or restitution when a bail bond is posted before a case is adjudicated.

(6) Announcement or order of Announces or orders Page 5 SB213 Enrolled sentence prior to any probation determination." "§15-13-118 After the entry of a conditional forfeiture against any surety on an undertaking of bail, the surety may arrest the defendant as provided in Section 15-13-117, but and the arrest and delivery of the defendant to the authorized jail as stated in Section 15-13-117 shall not exonerate the surety unless, in the judgment of the court, a good and sufficient cause is given for the failure of the defendant to appear at the time the conditional judgement was entered." "§15-13-125 The clerk of the court having jurisdiction over the defendant shall issue a bondsman's process to the sureties on such the bail upon their request.

BONDSMAN'S PROCESS STATE OF ALABAMA Page 6 SB213 Engrossed COUNTY OF ___________.

WHEREAS, the Sureties on the bail of the defendant _____, in case number _____, have expressed their desire to Page 6 SB213 Enrolled surrender the defendant to the custody of _____ of (City or County), Alabama, and such desire has been expressed to the clerk of the _____ Court of the City/County of _____, Alabama, and, WHEREAS, the clerk has checked the records and case number _____ is still pending and the defendant nor his or her sureties have been discharged of their obligations, or the records of case number _____ reflect that the defendant has failed to appear on the obligation of bail as required and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of the defendant.

Bondsman Return On this _____ day of ___________, 20__, I ___________ Page 7 SB213 Engrossed agent for ___________ surrender the above named defendant to the ___________ jail of ___________.

__________." "§15-13-131 Page 7 SB213 Enrolled (a) When a defendant fails to appear in court as required by the undertaking of bail and no sufficient excuse has been provided to the court prior to the hearing, the court shall order a conditional forfeiture and show cause order against the defendant and the sureties of the bail.

The court may take into consideration the circumstances provided to the court and continue any final forfeiture Page 8 SB213 Engrossed hearing to another day and time allowing the sureties more time to apprehend the defendant.

(b) When an undertaking of bail is forfeited by the failure of the defendant to appear as required, except when money is deposited as cash bail, a conditional judgment shall Page 8 SB213 Enrolled be rendered by the court in favor of the state or its subdivisions, for the use of the proper city, county, or state, against the parties to the undertaking for the sum thereon expressed, which judgment may be substantially as follows:

(c) The state shall remit one-half of the funds it Page 9 SB213 Engrossed receives under subsections (a) and (b) to the county in which the defendant was charged.

The funds shall be deposited into the general fund of the county and used for the maintenance and operation of the county jail." "§15-13-132 Page 9 SB213 Enrolled A notice of the rendition of the judgment set forth in Section 15-13-131 shall be issued by the clerk of the court and served according to the terms as established in this article within 90 days of the court's conditional forfeiture order to the defendant and sureties.

The notice may be in the following formform: after the defendant's failure to appear in court:

If no action on your part is taken 28 30 days after the Page 10 SB213 Engrossed date you receive this notice, a final forfeiture may be entered against you by the court.

If you file a written response and the court is of the opinion your written response is not sufficient to set aside the conditional forfeiture, Page 10 SB213 Enrolled then the court shall set a final forfeiture hearing date and you will be notified at the address provided on the response.

The notice required by this subsection must shall be returned by the person individual serving it, with his or her proper return endorsed thereon, within twenty-eight 30 days of the date of issuance or within five days of service, whichever period of time is shorter." Page 11 SB213 Engrossed "§15-13-136 In forfeiture cases where the clerk of the court has failed to issue the conditional forfeiture notice as stipulated in Section 15-13-132 and where there has been no service as set out in Section 15-13-134 made within 90 days of after the order of the court defendant fails to appear as set out in Section 15-13-131, Page 11 SB213 Enrolled and where the sureties have complied with Section 15-13-133, then the sureties shall be discharged from all liability of the bail and the conditional judgment shall be set aside against such those sureties." "§15-13-137 If the defendants appear and show sufficient cause for the default to be determined by the court, the conditional judgment shall be set aside.

The hospitalization may be in or out of the State of Alabama Page 12 SB213 Engrossed this state.

After receiving notice, the court may continue the case to a future Page 12 SB213 Enrolled date it deems proper and just for the defendant to appear.

(2) If the sureties show that the defendant was confined in jail or in the custody of another jurisdiction in the State of Alabama this state or any other state, at the time of his or her original appearance or on the date of the issuance of the conditional forfeiture order, or if the surety shows that the defendant is still confined in any jail in the State of Alabama this state or any other state, or in the custody of another jurisdiction within the State of Alabama this state or any other state, or in the custody of another jurisdiction within the continental United States, including United States federal jurisdiction, the court shall set aside the conditional forfeiture and continue the case until a time Page 13 SB213 Engrossed after the end of that confinement.

Page 13 SB213 Enrolled (3) If the sureties show the defendant is deceased.

(4) If the sureties show the defendant was serving on active duty in one of the military services of the United States." "§15-13-139 In forfeiture cases where the sureties have paid the amount of the forfeiture into the court or in cases where the forfeiture has been made final or absolute and there is no further litigation pending on the forfeiture, and the surety locates the defendant and causes the return of the defendant to the custody of the court where the bond was forfeited, and if the defendant was substantially procured by actions of the surety, and the administration of justice has not been thwarted nor the successful prosecution of the defendant has been affected, then the court which ordered the forfeiture, shall have full power and jurisdiction in all proceedings conducted pursuant to this article and within a period of six months one year from the date of issuance of any final forfeiture judgment, to consider any costs to the state or its subdivisions which resulted as a cause of the default, if any, and upon giving consideration thereto, may, in the court's discretion, remit the whole of the penalty of the bail, or Page 14 SB213 Engrossed undertaking, or any portion thereof, which is in excess of any costs to the state or its subdivisions, and render a new final judgment against the sureties appearing upon the bail bond or undertaking.

In forfeiture cases, if the judgment has been paid into the State Treasury or Municipal Treasury a municipal treasury, the court may issue an order to the custodian of the Page 14 SB213 Enrolled treasury to make a refund to the sureties." "§15-13-140 Reasons for default shall be heard by the court on application, at any time when not engaged in other business.

If the surety is a professional surety company or professional bail company then any agent or representative of the professional surety company or professional bail company may appear for the same purposes." "§15-13-141 In all cases where a conditional forfeiture has been made final by any court of the state or any of its subdivisions and there has been no further action or request filed with the court, appeal taken, application to the State Page 15 SB213 Engrossed Pardons and Paroles Board, or any other litigation of which the court has knowledge has been filed by the surety with the court within 30 days to the clerk of the court of the entry or order of the final judgment and the same has not been paid within 30 days to the clerk of the court, then the clerk shall refuse to accept and approve any bonds from the surety as Page 15 SB213 Enrolled being insufficient.

(2) The person has not been convicted of a previous felony or committed a felony while being released on any form Page 16 SB213 Engrossed of bail.

(4) There is no evidence, satisfactory to the judicial officer, that the person has violated a previous bail release, Page 16 SB213 Enrolled whether it be judicial public bail, property, cash, or professional surety bail, or failure to appear." "§15-13-159 No professional surety company shall execute or become surety on any appearance bond in this state, unless it has an order granting authorization to become professional surety on any bail.

(2) An original qualifying power of attorney issued by the professional surety company, specifying any applicable limitations and the names of the agents that may execute and Page 17 SB213 Engrossed bind the company to a bail undertaking.

Page 17 SB213 Enrolled (3) A copy of the license issued by the Department of Insurance of each agent who is named in or appointed by the qualifying power of attorney in subdivision (2) or a letter or other documentation from the department indicating that the appointed agents are temporarily licensed as agents of the professional surety company for those lines of insurance.

Page 18 SB213 Engrossed c.

If any person Page 18 SB213 Enrolled having a direct or indirect financial interest in such agency, company, corporation, or other entity has been convicted of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude, then the affidavit or certification shall certify that there has been such conviction, providing the name of the person convicted, and certify that the person convicted has been pardoned or has had a restoration of civil rights.

That no agents of the professional surety company who have the authority to execute appearance bonds in its behalf or any person having a financial interest, direct or indirect, in the ownership or management of any agency, company, corporation, or other entity that represents the professional surety company in the execution of appearance bonds, is an attorney, a judicial official, a person authorized to accept an appearance bond, or an agent of an attorney, judicial official, or person authorized to accept an Page 19 SB213 Engrossed appearance bond.