Judiciary committee bundles criminal procedure bills, amends appearance-bond rules and passes bundled bill

The House Committee on Judiciary on March 5 worked a package of criminal-procedure measures, amending and combining bills related to unlawful use of laser pointers, warrants for failure to appear, appearance-bond practices and requirements for who may state facts to obtain search warrants.

What the committee did: The committee amended Senate Bill 156 (which creates the crimes for unlawful pointing of a laser at a law‑enforcement officer or an aircraft) to adjust the effective date and then voted to pass SB156 as amended. Representative Williams moved to pass SB156 as amended; Representative Osman seconded and the committee approved the bill. Representative Carmichael requested that his aye vote be recorded on the passage vote.

The committee then extensively amended Senate Bill 157, folding in provisions from other bills. Key changes included:

- Warrants and NCIC entry: An amendment clarified that, within 14 days of issuance of a warrant, the sheriff must enter the warrant into the NCIC database; courts must make copies available to a compensated surety upon request. The amendment separates the sheriff's operational duty (entry in NCIC) from the court's duty to provide copies upon request.

- Deportation and setting aside forfeiture: The amendment added a provision allowing a compensated surety to seek to set aside a forfeiture if the surety can prove, under penalty of perjury, that the defendant was deported and not held on an immigration detainer when the bond was posted. The language replaces a different deportation reference and clarifies evidentiary requirements for setting aside forfeiture.

- Partial remittance tiers: The committee adopted a tiered remittance schedule for appearance bonds returned to an obligor who returns a defendant to custody after a default judgment: 90 percent remitted if the defendant is returned within 90 days, 75 percent if returned within 180 days, and 50 percent if returned within 270 days. Proponents said the schedule provides incentives for sureties to locate and return defendants.

- Prohibition on financing arrangements (from SB244): The committee inserted the contents of Senate Bill 244 into SB157; SB244 would prohibit compensated sureties from offering financing agreements that essentially loan the premium amount that a criminal defendant must pay as part of an appearance bond.

- Search-warrant statement requirement (from SB138): The committee inserted a provision that search warrants be issued only on the statement of facts sufficient to show probable cause made by a law-enforcement officer, replacing broader language that allowed any person to present the facts.

Committee votes and process: The group voted to amend SB157 by adding the contents of SB244 and SB138 and then voted to approve SB157 as amended. Several members recorded negative or no votes on specific amendments; Representative Carmichael stated he would vote no on the final passage of SB157 because he objected to bundling bills together in a single vehicle.

Supporters and opponents: Testimony during the day included testimony from bail agents' representatives advocating for explicit access-by-surety provisions and from district attorneys and law‑enforcement representatives describing practical concerns; committee discussion reflected competing policy priorities between incentivizing the return of defendants, protecting public-safety interests, and regulating the bail industry.

Ending and next steps: The committee passed both SB156 (as amended) and the bundled SB157 (as amended) out of committee. Members asked staff to circulate final redlines and indicated the bills will proceed to the full House calendar. Representative Carmichael asked that his negative vote on SB157 be recorded.