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AL HB478
Bill
Status
5/16/2023
Primary Sponsor
Shane Stringer
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AI Summary
HB478 Summary
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Allows sheriffs and jailers to accept filing fees for bail bonds and permits bail bondsmen to file motions and notices related to defendants on their bonds.
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Extends the court's jurisdiction over forfeiture actions from six months to one year and increases notice and hearing timeframes from 28 to 30 days and 90 to 120 days respectively.
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Prohibits charging sureties for bondsman's process or certified bond copies, requires bondsman license numbers on process forms, and allows sureties to sign conditional forfeiture notices with court clerks.
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Increases corporate surety bond and escrow agreement requirements from $25,000 to $50,000 for new bonds in counties with populations of 200,000 or more.
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Creates criminal penalties: Class A misdemeanor for unauthorized bail sureties or providing false bail information, and Class C felony for sureties exchanging sexual services for bail bond services.
Legislative Description
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.
Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993, revised
Last Action
Introduced and Referred to House Judiciary
5/16/2023