Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, speaks during a committee meeting during a special session, Friday, July 21, 2023 in Montgomery, Alabama. The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday approved a bill sponsored by England to allow judges to issue a percentage bond for those in pretrial detention. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector))
An Alabama House Committee approved legislation Wednesday allowing a defendant to be released from pretrial detention by paying a percentage of a bond.
HB 42, sponsored by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, allows defendants to pay the court a portion of the total bond amount that is posted instead of paying a bail bond company to remain free while court proceedings move forward. In the event the individual does not appear in court, the court then keeps the bail money to be applied to restitution and other court costs.
The bill leaves the current statute largely intact but for one section that allows people who have been charged with a crime to pay “a part” of the total bail amount.
“It officially allows a judge to assign a percentage bond on a case for cash,” England told members of the committee. “It has been something that has been done for years. In a bill that was passed a few years ago, it was taken out.”
The charges are generally from lower-level offenses or misdemeanors, which could stem from disorderly conduct because of alcohol consumption at a sporting event, for example.
The bill first appeared in committee last month. At a public hearing in February, Victor Howard, a Madison County bail bond company owner and vice president of the Alabama Bail Bond Association, said the legislation decreases a defendant’s responsibility.
He also referred to a report that he did not name from California that suggested that the failure to appear rate for who were released on a zero bail, meaning people who were released pretrial without having to pay any bail versus using a bail bond company, “72% in their state.”
Researchers who studied the issue of bail and its impact on recidivism unanimously rejected Howard’s claim.
“My understanding is that Alabama has a bail bond system that is pretty vigorous,” said Shawn Bushway, a professor of public administration and policy at the University at Albany. “If you think about the bail bond system, most people are already doing a percentage of the amount because they give the bail bondsman something in the order of 10% typically.”
England’s bill comes just as other states are beginning to implement more reforms to the cash bail system, according to a report released this month by the Bail Project, a national nonprofit that advocates for reforms to the bail system.
“There are a lot of public statements saying that bail reform is problematic,” said Jeremy Cherson, director of communications and publications for the Bail Project. “The findings in the report show that different states and jurisdictions across the country have made moderate and meaningful improvements to their pretrial systems that minimize, or eliminate, the use of cash bail with positive effects.”
Republicans who have at times vehemently opposed England’s proposals, supported the legislation. Rep. Bryan Brinyark, R-Windham Springs, who has experience working as a judge, said it would save municipalities and counties the cost of incarcerating those who committed misdemeanors and lower-level felonies.
“I might let them sit for two or three days and see if an aunt is going to come up with some of the money to get him out,” he said. “But if they have been in there for two or three days, and it is for something that is not serious, misdemeanor in city court, I am going to let them out because it is costing the city money.”
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