Bill Text: MS SB2805 | 2012 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Bail bondsmen; revise certain licensing laws under the authority of the Department of Insurance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2012-04-13 - Died On Calendar [SB2805 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-SB2805-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Carmichael
Senate Bill 2805
(As Passed the Senate)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 83-39-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW A SOLICITING BAIL AGENT OR ENFORCEMENT AGENT WHO HAS BEEN TERMINATED BY, OR CEASED EMPLOYMENT WITH, A PROFESSIONAL BAIL AGENT TO BE RELICENSED WITHOUT PRELICENSING EDUCATION UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; TO AMEND SECTION 83-39-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW THE RETURN OF QUALIFICATION BOND TO THE PERSONAL SURETY AGENT UPON ORDER OF THE COURT OR AFTER FIVE YEARS FROM THE DATE OF LAST LICENSURE; TO AMEND SECTION 83-39-8, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW A PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE TO MANAGE AND CLOSE THE BUSINESS OF PERSONAL SURETY THAT HAS DIED; TO AMEND SECTION 83-39-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MAKE IT UNLAWFUL FOR A BAIL AGENT TO REFUSE TO RETURN COLLATERAL SECURITY WHEN THE PREMIUM HAS BEEN PAID OR BOND OBLIGATION HAS BEEN TERMINATED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 83-39-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
83-39-3. (1) No person shall act in the capacity of professional bail agent, soliciting bail agent or bail enforcement agent, as defined in Section 83-39-1, or perform any of the functions, duties or powers of the same unless that person shall be qualified and licensed as provided in this chapter. The terms of this chapter shall not apply to any automobile club or association, financial institution, insurance company or other organization or association or their employees who execute bail bonds on violations arising out of the use of a motor vehicle by their members, policyholders or borrowers when bail bond is not the principal benefit of membership, the policy of insurance or of a loan to such member, policyholder or borrower.
(2) (a) No license shall be issued or renewed except in compliance with this chapter, and none shall be issued except to an individual. No firm, partnership, association or corporation, as such, shall be so licensed. No professional bail agent shall operate under more than one (1) trade name. A soliciting bail agent and bail enforcement agent shall operate only under the professional bail agent's name. No license shall be issued to or renewed for any person who has ever been convicted of a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude or who is under twenty-one (21) years of age. No person engaged as a law enforcement or judicial official or attorney shall be licensed hereunder. A person who is employed in any capacity at any jail or corrections facility that houses state, county or municipal inmates who are bailable, whether the person is a public employee, independent contractor, or the employee of an independent contractor, may not be licensed under this section.
(b) (i) No person who is a relative of either a sworn state, county or municipal law enforcement official or judicial official, or an employee, independent contractor or the contractor's employee of any police department, sheriff's department, jail or corrections facility that houses or holds federal, state, county or municipal inmates who are bailable, shall write a bond in the county where the law enforcement entity or court in which the person's relative serves is located. "Relative" means a spouse, parent, grandparent, child, sister, brother, or a consanguineous aunt, uncle, niece or nephew. Violation of this prohibition shall result in license revocation.
(ii) No person licensed under this chapter shall act as a personal surety agent in the writing of bail during a period he or she is licensed as a limited surety agent, as defined herein.
(iii) No person licensed under this chapter shall give legal advice or a legal opinion in any form.
(3) The department is vested with the authority to enforce this chapter. The department may conduct investigations or request other state, county or local officials to conduct investigations and promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the enforcement of this chapter. The department may establish monetary fines and collect such fines as necessary for the enforcement of such rules and regulations. All fines collected shall be deposited in the Special Insurance Department Fund for the operation of that agency.
(4) Each license issued hereunder shall expire biennially on the last day of September, unless revoked or suspended prior thereto by the department, or upon notice served upon the commissioner by the insurer that the authority of a limited surety agent to act for or in behalf of such insurer had been terminated, or upon notice served upon the commissioner * * * that the authority of a soliciting bail agent or bail enforcement agent had been terminated by such professional bail agent. A soliciting bail agent or bail enforcement agent may, upon termination by a professional bail agent or upon his cessation of employment with a professional bail agent, be relicensed without having to comply with the provisions of Section 83-39-3(7)(a), if he has held a license in his respective license category within ninety (90) days of the new application, meets all other requirements set forth in Sections 83-39-5 and 83-39-3(7)(b), and notifies the previous professional bail agent in writing that he is submitting an application for a new license. Licenses shall expire on the last day of September of each odd-numbered year.
(5) The department shall prepare and deliver to each licensee a license showing the name, address and classification of such licensee, and shall certify that the person is a licensed professional bail agent, being designated as a personal surety agent or a limited surety agent, a soliciting bail agent or a bail enforcement agent. In addition, the license, if for a soliciting bail agent or bail enforcement agent, shall show the name of the professional bail agent and any other information as the commissioner deems proper.
(6) The commissioner, after a hearing under Section 83-39-17, may refuse to issue a privilege license for a soliciting bail agent to change from one (1) professional bail agent to another if he owes any premium or debt to the professional bail agent with whom he is currently licensed. The commissioner, after a hearing under Section 83-39-17, shall refuse to issue a license for a limited surety agent if he owes any premium or debt to an insurer to which he has been appointed. If a license has been granted to a limited surety agent or a soliciting bail agent who owed any premium or debt to an insurer or professional bail agent, the commissioner, after a hearing under Section 83-39-17, shall revoke the license.
(7) (a) Before the issuance of any initial professional bail agent, soliciting bail agent or bail enforcement agent license, the applicant shall submit proof of successful completion of forty (40) classroom hours of prelicensing education approved by the Professional Bail Agents Association of Mississippi, Inc., and conducted by persons or entities approved by the Professional Bail Agents Association of Mississippi, Inc. The hours required by this subsection shall be classroom hours and may not be acquired through correspondence or over the Internet. Any applicant who has been properly licensed under this chapter within ninety (90) days of submitting an application for a different license type shall not be subject to the prelicensing education requirement.
(b) Beginning on July 1, 2011, in order to assist the department in determining an applicant's suitability for a license under this chapter, the applicant shall submit a set of fingerprints with the submission of an application for license. The department shall forward the fingerprints to the Department of Public Safety for the purpose of conducting a criminal history record check. If no disqualifying record is identified at the state level, the fingerprints shall be forwarded by the Department of Public Safety to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check. Fees related to the criminal history record check shall be paid by the applicant to the commissioner and the monies from such fees shall be deposited in the special fund in the State Treasury designated as the "Insurance Department Fund."
(8) (a) Before the renewal of the license of any professional bail agent, soliciting bail agent or bail enforcement agent, the applicant shall submit proof of successful completion of continuing education hours as follows:
(i) There shall be no continuing education required for the first year of an original license;
(ii) Except as provided in subparagraph (i), eight (8) classroom hours of continuing education for each year or part of a year of the two-year license period, for a total of sixteen (16) hours per license period.
(b) If an applicant for renewal failed to obtain the required eight (8) hours for each year of the license period during the actual license year in which the education was required to be obtained, the applicant shall not be eligible for a renewal license but shall be required to obtain an original license and be subject to the education requirements set forth in subsection (7). The commissioner shall not be required to comply with Section 83-39-17 in denying an application for a renewal license under this paragraph (b).
(c) The education hours required under this subsection (8) shall consist of classroom hours approved by the Professional Bail Agents Association of Mississippi, Inc., and provided by persons or entities approved by the Professional Bail Agents Association of Mississippi, Inc. The hours required by this subsection shall be classroom hours and may not be acquired through correspondence or over the Internet.
(d) The continuing education requirements under this subsection (8) shall not be required for renewal of a professional bail agent license for any applicant who is sixty-five (65) years of age and who has been licensed as a professional bail agent for a continuous period of twenty (20) years immediately preceding the submission of the application as evidenced by submission of an affidavit, under oath, on a form prescribed by the department, signed by the licensee attesting to satisfaction of the age, licensing, and experience requirements of this paragraph (d).
(9) No license as a professional bail agent shall be issued unless the applicant has been duly licensed by the department as a soliciting bail agent for a period of three (3) consecutive years immediately preceding the submission of the application. However, this subsection (9) shall not apply to any person who was licensed as a professional bail agent before July 1, 2011.
(10) A nonresident person may be licensed as a professional bail agent, bail soliciting agent or bail enforcement agent if:
(a) The person's home state awards licenses to residents of this state on the same basis; and
(b) The person has satisfied all requirements set forth in this chapter.
SECTION 2. Section 83-39-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
83-39-7. (1) Each applicant for a professional bail agent license who acts as personal surety shall be required to post a qualification bond in the amount of Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000.00). The qualification bond shall be made by depositing with the commissioner the aforesaid amount of bonds of the United States, the State of Mississippi or any agency or subdivision thereof, or a certificate of deposit issued by an institution whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and made payable jointly to the owner and the Department of Insurance, or shall be written by an insurer as defined in this chapter, shall meet the specifications as may be required and defined in this chapter, and shall meet such specifications as may be required and approved by the department. The bond shall be conditioned upon the full and prompt payment of any bail bond issued by such professional bail agent into the court ordering the bond forfeited. The bond shall be to the people of the State of Mississippi in favor of any court of this state, whether municipal, justice, county, circuit, Supreme or other court. If any bond issued by a professional bail agent is declared forfeited and judgment entered thereon by a court of proper jurisdiction as authorized in Section 99-5-25, and the amount of the bond is not paid within ninety (90) days, that court shall order the department to declare the qualification bond of the professional bail agent to be forfeited and the license revoked. If the bond was not forfeited correctly under Section 99-5-25, it shall be returned to the court as uncollectible. The department shall then order the surety on the qualification bond to deposit with the court an amount equal to the amount of the bond issued by the professional bail agent and declared forfeited by the court, or the amount of the qualification bond, whichever is the smaller amount. The department shall, after hearing held upon not less than ten (10) days' written notice, suspend the license of the professional bail agent until such time as another qualification bond in the required amount is posted with the department. The revocation of the license of the professional bail agent shall also serve to revoke the license of each soliciting bail agent and bail enforcement agent employed or used by such professional bail agent. In the event of a final judgment of forfeiture of any bail bond written under the provisions of this chapter, the amount of money so forfeited by the final judgment of the proper court, less all accrued court costs and excluding any interest charges or attorney's fees, shall be refunded to the bail agent or his insurance company upon proper showing to the court as to which is entitled to same, provided the defendant in such cases is returned to the sheriff of the county to which the original bail bond was returnable within twelve (12) months of the date of such final judgment, or proof made of incarceration of the defendant in another jurisdiction, and that a "Hold Order" has been placed upon the defendant for return of the defendant to the sheriff upon release from the other jurisdiction, the return to the sheriff to be the responsibility of the professional bail agent as provided in subsection (2) of this section, then the bond forfeiture shall be stayed and remission made upon petition to the court, in the amount found in the court's discretion to be just and proper. A bail agent licensed under this chapter shall have a right to apply for and obtain from the proper court an extension of time delaying a final judgment of forfeiture if such bail agent can satisfactorily establish to the court wherein such forfeiture is pending that the defendant named in the bail bond is lawfully in custody outside of the State of Mississippi.
(2) The qualification bond may be released by the department to the professional bail personal surety agent upon an order to release the qualification bond issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or upon written request to the department by the professional bail personal surety agent no earlier than five (5) years after the expiration date of his last license.
* * *
SECTION 3. Section 83-39-8, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
83-39-8. If a professional bail agent who acts as a personal surety agent dies, the personal representative of the estate may contract with licensed professional bail agents, soliciting bail agents or bail enforcement agents to assist him in managing and closing the business affairs of the professional bail agent. The licensed professional bail agent, soliciting bail agent or bail enforcement agent contracted by the personal representative may, on behalf of the personal representative, present defendants in court when required, assist in the apprehension and surrender of defendants to the court, or keep defendants under necessary surveillance. Nothing herein shall give the personal representative the authority to execute and sign bail bonds in connection with judicial proceedings.
SECTION 4. Section 83-39-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
83-39-27. It is unlawful for a licensee to engage in any of the following activities:
(a) Specify, suggest or advise the employment of any particular attorney to represent his principal.
(b) Pay a fee or rebate or give or promise to give anything of value to a jailer, policeman, peace officer, clerk, deputy clerk, any other employee of any court, district attorney or any of his employees or any person who has power to arrest or to hold any person in custody.
(c) Pay a fee or rebate or give anything of value to an attorney in bail bond matters, except in defense of any act on a bond, or as counsel to represent such bail agent, his agent or employees.
(d) Pay a fee or rebate or give or promise to give anything of value to the person on whose bond he is surety.
(e) Pay a fee or rebate or give or promise to give anything of value to any person, other than a soliciting bail agent, for the purpose of procuring a bail bond.
(f) Accept anything of value from a person on whose bond he is surety, or from others on behalf of such person, except the fee or premium on the bond, but the bail agent may accept collateral security or other indemnity.
(g) Coerce, suggest, aid and abet, offer promise of favor or threaten any person on whose bond he is surety or offers to become surety, to induce that person to commit any crime.
(h) Give legal advice or a legal opinion in any form.
(i) Refuse to return collateral security or other indemnity when the fee or premium on the bond has been fully paid or when the bail agent's obligation on the bond has been terminated.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.
