Back in 2013, the General Assembly passed House Bill 151, which had substantially revised the law relating to bail agent licensure and oversight. One of those reforms to the Bail Bond law was to require all bail funders to be licensed as bail agents themselves if they have a greater than 10% financial interest in a bail agent’s business or any bail bond.
Senate Bill 102 states that the General Assembly actually meant what they said when they passed the original law, and that individuals or businesses that loan or otherwise provide funds to bail agents for purposes of furnishing bail are themselves required to be licensed as bail agents.
Apparently this clarification was necessary due an illegal scheme that was at the center of a recent Delaware Superior Court case, which you can read about below.
2019-n16j-05369-skrThe bill also creates a standard term (“bail agent business entity”) to refer to business entities that advertise and act as bail agents and standardizes the use of the phrase throughout the subchapter.
Section 2 provides a definition of “financial interest” and revises the provision regarding background check requirements to permit applicants to submit federal background check requests electronically through SBI.
Section 3 of this bill clarifies that the duties of bail agents as set forth in Section 4333B(b) apply both to individual property bail agents and business entity licensees and also grants the Commissioner the authority to request from licensees financial statements and balance sheets in a form required by the Commissioner, bank statements, and other information deemed necessary by the Commissioner in her review of the business operations of licensees under this Chapter.
Section 4 of this bill requires the automatic suspension of a bail entity’s license if such entity’s designated responsible individual licensee is no longer in good standing and dictates that a designated responsible individual licensee is responsible for the business entity’s failure to comply with the relevant insurance laws.
Section 6 of this bill increases the amount of the bond that bail agents are required to file with the Department.
| Senate Bill 102 Sponsors | Yes Votes | No Votes |
| Mantzavinos, Gay | ||
| Brady, Bush | ||
| Current Status — Senate Banking, Business & Insurance 4/1/21 |
0 comments on “SB 102 – Bail Bond Agent Reform”