Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: War Over Bail Bonds Has Only Just Begun
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
November 1, 2018

Share

One of this year’s most contentious legislative battles was over requiring those accused of serious crimes to post cash bail to be released from jail while their cases are pending.

Opinion

by Dan Walters
CALmatters Columnist

The bail bond industry bitterly opposed the legislation, of course. It would put thousands of storefront bail offices, most of them conveniently located near jails, out of business.

It was seemingly resolved when a bill to eliminate cash bail was passed after a last-minute redrafting of dubious legality Rather than having judges set bail amounts for defendants, the new law would require judges to evaluate their flight risk and decide who should be released and who should be jailed pending trial.

The enactment of Senate Bill 10, however, was just the opening salvo of a multi-front legal and political war.

The bail bond industry – private companies that bail out defendants for fees and sometimes for property they post as security – bitterly opposed the legislation, of course. It would put thousands of storefront bail offices, most of them conveniently located near jails, out of business.

Led by the industry’s giants, such as Aladdin Bail Bonds, it is spending several million dollars to collect the 365,880 registered voter signatures required to place a repeal referendum on the 2020 ballot.

There’s virtually no doubt that the referendum will qualify, automatically suspending the new law until voters decide its fate.

Industry Will Spend Heavily to Kill the Legislation

Faced with extinction, the industry will spend heavily to kill the legislation, and its proponents – criminal justice reform and civil rights groups, primarily – don’t appear to have big money to defend it.

The opposition is also divided. The last-minute rewrite granted judges the ultimate authority over who stays in jail or is released and that alienated some anti-bail groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union. They worried aloud that judges would tend to keep defendants in jail rather than risk the onus if someone released without bail commits a heinous crime.

Bail bond firms may also file suit to overturn the new law, alleging that those late changes violate a constitutional requirement, passed by voters in 2016, requiring bills to be in print for 72 hours before being passed.

SB 10 had sat in limbo for nearly a year, but suddenly, on Aug. 16, was revived in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. A day later – on a Friday afternoon – massive amendments were submitted to the Assembly clerk’s office.

However, official records, including the bill itself, say the amendments were adopted the following Monday, Aug. 20, just before the Assembly approved it on a 42-31 vote. A day later, the Senate gave final approval, sending the bill to Gov. Jerry Brown on a 26-12 vote.

The challenge, if it occurs, would hinge on whether the 72-hour notice period began when the amendments were submitted on Aug. 17 or when they were adopted on Aug. 20.

Another Pending Case Could End Cash Bail

Meanwhile, another case pending before the state Supreme Court could end, or at least severely curtail, cash bail regardless of whether SB 10 survives.

Meanwhile, another case pending before the state Supreme Court could end, or at least severely curtail, cash bail regardless of whether SB 10 survives.

Last January, a state appellate court in San Francisco declared that in requiring cash bail, judges must consider the financial ability of defendants to afford it, bolstering the basic argument behind SB 10 that bail discriminates against the poor.

Justice J. Anthony Kline, Brown’s close friend and one-time legal adviser, wrote the opinion, which begins with a long quote from Brown’s 1979 State of the State address calling for bail reform.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra refused to appeal Kline’s ruling, but San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon did and lawyers for the issue’s many protagonists are busily submitting briefs seeking to influence the state Supreme Court’s decision whether to uphold or overturn Kline.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is not a disinterested party. She has been a public advocate of bail reform and was a major behind-the-scenes figure in SB 10’s last-minute revision giving judges more authority to decide who goes free and who stays in jail while awaiting trial.

CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Sells X to His Own xAI for $33 Billion in All-Stock Deal

DON'T MISS

US Naval Academy Ends Affirmative Action in Admissions

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Backtracks on a Legally Questionable Plan to Pay Voters

DON'T MISS

Appeals Court Clears Way for DOGE to Keep Operating at USAID

DON'T MISS

Trump Pledges US Aid for Asia Quake Despite Former Official Saying System in ‘Shambles’

DON'T MISS

Is Fresno Political Consultant Alex Tavlian Behind Election Attack Mailer?

DON'T MISS

Gronk-a-Mania Set to Run Wild Over WrestleMania Weekend

DON'T MISS

Federal Judge Blocks Trump From Dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

DON'T MISS

St. Agnes’ Newest Robot Promises Less Invasive Surgeries, Faster Recoveries

DON'T MISS

California Food Banks Brace for Funding Cuts, and Not Only From the Trump Administration

UP NEXT

If California Bails Out LA’s $1 Billion Budget Deficit, Beware the Slippery Slope

UP NEXT

Trump Has Had Enough. He Is Not Alone.

UP NEXT

The Real Crisis in California Schools Is Low Achievement, Not Cultural Conflicts

UP NEXT

Trump and Musk Are Suffering From Soros Derangement Syndrome

UP NEXT

CA Politicians Have an Irritating Habit of Ignoring the Downsides

UP NEXT

If Pete Hegseth Had Any Honor, He Would Resign

UP NEXT

If Zero-Emission Cars Cut Gasoline Sales and Tax Revenue, How Will California Replace Them?

UP NEXT

How Israel Divides the Right

UP NEXT

Under Pressure From Trump, UC Abandons ‘Diversity Statement’ Requirement for Faculty

UP NEXT

California Seniors Are Paying the Price for Lawsuit Abuse 

Appeals Court Clears Way for DOGE to Keep Operating at USAID

16 hours ago

Trump Pledges US Aid for Asia Quake Despite Former Official Saying System in ‘Shambles’

16 hours ago

Is Fresno Political Consultant Alex Tavlian Behind Election Attack Mailer?

16 hours ago

Gronk-a-Mania Set to Run Wild Over WrestleMania Weekend

17 hours ago

Federal Judge Blocks Trump From Dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

17 hours ago

St. Agnes’ Newest Robot Promises Less Invasive Surgeries, Faster Recoveries

17 hours ago

California Food Banks Brace for Funding Cuts, and Not Only From the Trump Administration

18 hours ago

Why the Nation Would Be Wise to Support a Third Term Amendment for Donald Trump

18 hours ago

RIP, Bill Lyles: One of Fresno’s Most Iconic Builders and Philanthropists

19 hours ago

Madera Authorities Seize 80 Pounds of Meth, Arrest Two Suspects

19 hours ago

Elon Musk Sells X to His Own xAI for $33 Billion in All-Stock Deal

JACKSONVILLE, Mi — Elon Musk has sold social media site X to his own xAI artificial intelligence company in a $33 billion all-stock deal, th...

15 hours ago

15 hours ago

Elon Musk Sells X to His Own xAI for $33 Billion in All-Stock Deal

15 hours ago

US Naval Academy Ends Affirmative Action in Admissions

15 hours ago

Elon Musk Backtracks on a Legally Questionable Plan to Pay Voters

16 hours ago

Appeals Court Clears Way for DOGE to Keep Operating at USAID

16 hours ago

Trump Pledges US Aid for Asia Quake Despite Former Official Saying System in ‘Shambles’

16 hours ago

Is Fresno Political Consultant Alex Tavlian Behind Election Attack Mailer?

17 hours ago

Gronk-a-Mania Set to Run Wild Over WrestleMania Weekend

17 hours ago

Federal Judge Blocks Trump From Dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend