Friday, September 24, 2010

The Oregon Bail Bond Update

WORKING HARD TO BRING BAIL BACK TO OREGON AFTER MANY YEARS OF A FAILING DEPOSIT BAIL SYSTEM...

For the past year, AIA, along with several other bail bond industry members, has made good progress in addressing the challenges of Oregon’s failing deposit bail system and bringing commercial bail back to Oregon. As many of you know, over 30 years ago, Oregon established a “deposit bail” system that effectively eliminated all surety bail from being produced in that state. Recently, in the face of alarming fugitive numbers, some segments of the Oregon justice system have called for the re-introduction of surety bail. The entire AIA team has been actively involved in the effort, in fact, I have personally made almost ten trips to Oregon in support of legislation that will be introduced this session. The contributing parties have drafted a completely new statutory scheme for bail in Oregon, as no laws regarding bail currently exist on the books in Oregon. Additionally, we have had the opportunity to speak to members of the legislature, plus legislative counsel and legislative staff at length about bringing bail back to Oregon. Jerry Watson actually just got back from Oregon yesterday after a full day of testimony in front of Oregon’s Judiciary Committee. Based on the report back from Jerry and team, the day went extremely well and very good progress was made. Stay tuned for a separate blog from Jerry (Behind the Paper with Jerry Watson) on his day of testimony.

While nothing is ever certain when it comes to legislation, we remain hopeful that the Oregon legislature will see the benefits of the surety bail system and, in the strong interests of public safety, pass this important piece of legislation in the 2011 session. As time goes on, I will report back through this blog with updates on our progress. As always, I welcome your comments and questions.

Brian Nairin
Chief Executive Officer - AIA