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Bill to clarify online bond payments aims to prevent people from being held when a judge sets bond
Summary
Sponsors say HB 1015 clarifies existing law to make online bond posting work as intended: remove low caps, eliminate excessive processing fees, and apply in‑person posting rules to online portals. Witnesses urged passage saying barriers leave people in custody who could post bail if portals matched statutory intent.
House Bill 1015, a cleanup measure to strengthen online bond posting, was introduced and heard by the House Judiciary Committee on May 20. The bill's sponsors said the statute that required online bond pay in 2022 has not been implemented consistently across counties and that barriers such as low maximum online payment caps, excessive platform processing fees and local practice differences have left people detained even when a judge set bond they could afford.
"When the Colorado Legislature said that online bond payments were supposed to be provided for, we meant it," Representative Mabry, a bill sponsor, told the committee. The bill would make procedural requirements that currently apply to in‑person bond posting explicit for online posting as well and give sheriffs an implementation extension to October 1, 2025.
Witnesses supported the proposal. Dana Steiner of the Colorado Freedom Fund said most jails still do not provide a functioning online posting option, and where online portals exist they often include limits and fees that defeat the statutory goal. "Particularly in rural areas, this means people who would otherwise be able to post the bond set by the judge are stuck in jail only because a loved one or other surety can't physically make it to the jail," Steiner said.
Sponsors said counties can use an existing statewide portal offered by the state's Internet portal authority at low or no cost; Summit County was cited as already using such a platform. The bill does not have a fiscal note for state appropriations and sponsors said it is intended as a technical fix to align practice with existing law.
No committee vote on HB 1015 was recorded during the hearing. Sponsors said they will work with counties that are already using alternative online methods to ensure those practice choices comply with the clarified statutory requirements.
If enacted, the bill would seek to reduce disparities in pretrial detention based on geography and access to transportation by ensuring that online bond posting is operational, affordable and consistent with in‑person posting rules across counties.
