H171 - Bail Bond Reform Summary

• Expressly abrogates common law provisions that conflict with Article 71 regulations on professional bondsmen, surety bondsmen, and runners in North Carolina.

• Allows out-of-state sureties to utilize licensed North Carolina bondsmen to effect arrest or surrender of defendants by providing a certified copy of the undertaking.

• Extends the provisional licensure period from 12 months to 24 months, requiring direct supervision by a supervising bail bondsman and prohibiting new licensees from becoming supervising bondsmen for the first five years.

• Establishes new requirements for supervising bail bondsmen including five years of uninterrupted experience, a $200 application fee, completion of a training course, and a $200 annual renewal fee; requires monthly reporting of supervised provisional licensees.

• Adds commission of any felony and commission of crimes involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or moral turpitude as grounds for license denial, suspension, probation, revocation, or nonrenewal.

• Shifts continuing education and renewal application deadlines from June 30 to May 31, effective July 1, 2024.