MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Judiciary B

By: Representative Fredericks

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 83-39-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT BAIL AGENTS SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR RETURNING DEFENDANTS TO THE COUNTY FROM WHICH HE WAS ORIGINALLY BONDED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 83-39-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

83-39-7. Each applicant for professional bail agent who acts as personal surety shall be required to post a qualification bond in the amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) with the department. Any professional bail agent making application for license renewal, as herein provided, who shall have furnished bail in fifty (50) or more criminal cases shall post such bond in the amount of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). The qualification bond shall be made by depositing with the commissioner the aforesaid amount of bonds of the United States, State of Mississippi, or any agency or subdivision thereof, or shall be written by an insurer as defined in this chapter, shall meet the specifications as may be required and defined in this chapter, and shall meet such specifications as may be required and approved by the department. The bond shall be conditioned upon the full and prompt payment of any bail bond issued by such professional bail agent into the court ordering the bond forfeited. The bond shall be to the people of the State of Mississippi in favor of any court of this state, whether municipal, justice, county, circuit, Supreme or other court. If any bond issued by a professional bail agent is declared forfeited and judgment entered thereon by a court of proper jurisdiction and the amount of the bond is not paid within ninety (90) days, that court shall order the department to declare the qualification bond of the professional bail agent to be forfeited and the license revoked. The department shall then order the surety on the qualification bond to deposit with the court an amount equal to the amount of the bond issued by the professional bail agent and declared forfeited by the court, or the amount of the qualification bond, whichever is the smaller amount. The department shall, after hearing held upon not less than ten (10) days' written notice, suspend the license of the professional bail agent until such time as another qualification bond in the required amount is posted with the department. The revocation of the license of the professional bail agent shall also serve to revoke the license of each soliciting bail agent and bail enforcement agent employed or used by such professional bail agent. In the event of a final judgment of forfeiture of any bail bond written under the provisions of this chapter, the amount of money so forfeited by the final judgment of the proper court, less all accrued court costs and excluding any interest charges or attorney's fees, shall be refunded to the bail agent or his insurance company upon proper showing to the court as to which is entitled to same, provided the defendant in such cases is returned to the sheriff of the county to which the original bail bond was returnable within twelve (12) months of the date of such final judgment, or proof made of incarceration of the defendant in another jurisdiction, and that "hold order" has been placed upon the defendant for return of the defendant to the sheriff upon release from the other jurisdiction, then the bond forfeiture shall be stayed and remission made upon petition to the court, in the amount found in the court's discretion to be just and proper. A "hold order" may only be placed on a defendant in the county in which he was originally bonded. The return of a defendant to the county from which he was originally bonded shall be the burden of the bail agent without cost to the county to which he is being returned. If the holding agency, whether in state or out of state, refuses to release the defendant, the agency holding the warrant shall return the defendant and the bail agent shall reimburse the agency holding the warrant for the cost of the return. A bail agent licensed under this chapter shall have a right to apply for and obtain from the proper court an extension of time delaying a final judgment of forfeiture if such bail agent can satisfactorily establish to the court wherein such forfeiture is pending that the defendant named in the bail bond is lawfully in custody outside of the State of Mississippi.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1999.