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Committee considers bill to bar bail agents from lending for minimum-premium down payment
Summary
Senate Bill 244 would prohibit a compensated surety (bail agent) from loaning money to pay the required half of a minimum appearance-bond premium and would require any such loan to come from a state-licensed financial institution.
Senate Bill 244, which would amend KSA 22-2809(b) to forbid compensated sureties from providing loans to cover the half of the 10% minimum appearance bond premium that a surety may require up front, was heard by the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senator Stephen Owens (R), a former bail industry participant who identified himself as having operated in the industry for 25 years, told the committee the bill is a technical cleanup intended to prevent actors from vertically integrating lending and bonding to circumvent last year's law that set minimum bond premiums. "There are a few actors out there that are acting as lending institutions to circumvent that 5% requirement," Owens said, and he said the bill simply clarifies that any loan for the required portion must be from a properly licensed financial institution and that a compensated surety cannot own or be affiliated with such a lending institution.
Shane Rolfe, executive vice president of the Kansas Bail Agents Association, testified in support and said the association wants customers protected from unregulated lending practices: "If they are going to go to that sort of institution, that sort of institution needs to be regulated by the state," Rolfe said.
Committee members asked clarifying questions using an example: if the bond is set at $100,000, the 10% minimum premium would be $10,000 and the bonding company may be required to collect $5,000 before posting the bond; the bill would bar the bonding company from loaning that $5,000 to the defendant or taking loans from an affiliated lender to cover that portion.
The committee heard no neutral or opposing conferees in person; written proponent testimony from Sheriff Jeff Easter (Sedgwick County) and law-enforcement organizations was noted.
The committee closed the public hearing; no committee vote is recorded in the transcript.
Votes at a glance: No committee vote recorded on Senate Bill 244; the hearing closed for the bill.
