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On Wednesday, the Alabama Senate Judiciary Committee voted to reject House Bill 42. The bill, introduced by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would have restored language previously struck from Alabama law that allows an individual to post bail through a partial deposit of their total bail sum.
In particular, HB42 would have authorized Alabama’s courts “to accept a cash deposit in an amount less than the total sum upon approval of the judicial officer setting the cash bail.”
“House bill 42 is a simple fix to a bill that we passed a few years ago where three words were eliminated from the code section. It took out ‘a part of,’ which meant that the only option available for someone who is bonding out of jail would be to pay the full amount,” Rep. England explained at a public hearing before the committee last week. “Practically, what that translates into is a large amount of money that would normally go to the court system, instead of going to the court system, it goes to a bondsman.”
In that meeting, England also mentioned that the Alabama District Attorneys Association supported the legislation as a way to keep bail money in the court system. An individual representing the Southern Poverty Law Center also spoke in support of the bill at last week’s public hearing.
However, the committee ultimately rejected HB42 by a thin margin.
“Sorry, Representative England. I’m sure you’ll be back next year,” Chairman William Barfoot, R-District 25, remarked after the vote.
“Oh yeah,” England replied.
