SB 849 Summary

• Allows surety bondsmen to write bail bonds in Oklahoma, expanding beyond the previously restricted professional and cash bondsman categories.

• Reduces residency requirements for cash bondsmen applicants from one year to six months of bona fide state residency.

• Modifies bail bondsman license expiration to occur on the last day of the licensee's birth month (biennial renewal), with removal of automatic license termination upon insurer cancellation.

• Adds new grounds for license denial, suspension, or revocation including financial irresponsibility, failure to accept certified mailings, and persons whose licenses were previously revoked by the Insurance Commissioner.

• Changes bail bond forfeiture procedures, including extending the return-to-custody deadline from 90 to 91 days and establishing automatic bond exoneration in certain circumstances (defendant deceased, in custody elsewhere, or entered into NCIC system without response).

• Effective date: November 1, 2013.