MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2015 Regular Session
To: Insurance
By: Senator(s) Burton
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 83-39-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF QUALIFICATION BOND REQUIRED FOR EACH APPLICANT FOR A PROFESSIONAL BAIL AGENT LICENSE WHO ACTS AS PERSONAL SURETY; 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. (1) Each
applicant for a professional bail agent license who acts as personal surety
shall be required to post a qualification bond in the amount of * * * Forty
Thousand Dollars ($40,000.00) and shall also post a county qualification bond
in the amount of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) in each county in which the
personal surety writes bonds. The total amount of county qualification bonds
required shall not exceed Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000.00), in which
case the personal surety may write bonds in all counties of the state. The
qualification bond shall be made by depositing with the commissioner the
aforesaid amount of bonds of the United States, the State of Mississippi or any
agency or subdivision thereof, or a certificate of deposit issued by an
institution whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation and made payable jointly to the owner and the Department of
Insurance, 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 as authorized in Section 99-5-25, 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. If the bond was not forfeited correctly under Section
99-5-25, it shall be returned to the court as uncollectible. 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 a "Hold
Order" has been placed upon the defendant for return of the defendant to
the sheriff upon release from the other jurisdiction, the return to the sheriff
to be the responsibility of the professional bail agent as provided in
subsection (2) of this section, 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 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.
(2) The qualification bond may be released by the department to the professional bail personal surety agent upon an order to release the qualification bond issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or upon written request to the department by the professional bail personal surety agent no earlier than five (5) years after the expiration date of his last license.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2015.