Judges: GREG ABBOTT, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 10/1/2008
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
The Honorable Sherri K. Tibbe Hays County Criminal District Attorney 110 East Martin Luther King San Marcos, Texas 78666
Re: Whether a county bail bond board may suspend or revoke an individual surety's license for that licensee's activity relating to an out-of-countybond (RQ-0700-GA)
Dear Ms. Tibbe:
You ask whether a county bail bond board may suspend or revoke an individual surety's license for that licensee's activity relating to an out-of-county bond.1 You explain that you use the term "out-of-county bail bond" to refer to a bond executed in Hays County for an arrest in Hays County on a warrant from another county. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1 n. 1; see also TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 15.18(a)(1) (Vernon Supp. 2008) (directing the magistrate before whom a person arrested under a warrant issued in another county is brought to take bail if allowed by law and immediately to transmit the bond to the court with jurisdiction of the offense).
You indicate that Hays County has created a bail bond board; consequently, bail bond sureties operating in the county are regulated under Occupations Code chapter 1704. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1; see also TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. §§
(1) "Bail bond" means a cash deposit, or similar deposit or written undertaking, or a bond or other security, given to guarantee the appearance of a defendant in a criminal case.4
(2) "Bail bond surety" means a person who:
(A) executes a bail bond as a surety or cosurety for another person; or
(B) for compensation deposits cash to ensure the appearance in court of a person accused of a crime.
Id § 1704.001(l)-(2) (Vernon Supp. 2008).
You relate the following facts: In approximately September 2005 an individual (the "defendant") was arrested in Hays County on a larceny warrant issued by Fort Bend County. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. At that time a licensed bail bond surety in Hays County "executed a bail bond in Hays County" for the defendant in the amount of $50,000.Id. As security for the bond, the bail bond surety collected $14,000, paid by credit card, from an indemnitor. See id. Although the defendant's bond "was revoked on October 12, 2006[,] for . . . failure to appear," the bond was not forfeited. See id. The larceny charge against the defendant was "finally disposed on October 29, 2007." Id. On November 1, 2007, the indemnitor by letter requested the bail bond surety to return the security and enclosed a copy of the final judgment in the larceny case. See id. On December 5, 2007, the indemnitor filed a complaint with the Hays County Bail Bond Board (the "Board"), alleging that the bail bond surety had not returned the security. See id. "When the Hays County District Attorney's Office contacted [the bail bond surety] about the return of the security, [the surety] stated that he needed a written release from Fort Bend County before he would return" it. Id. The Hays County District Attorney then "recommended to the Board that the security be returned to the indemnitor because the bond was not forfeited [as a result of the October 12, 2006, failure to appear], the criminal case was finally disposed, and section 1704.301 [of the Occupations Code] did not require a written release by the Fort Bend prosecutor" as a condition precedent to the *Page 3 return of the security.5 Id. On January 18, 2008, the Board voted to approve the district attorney's recommendation and requested the bail bond surety by letter to return the security. See id. He did not do so.See id. As a result, on March 28, 2008, the Board scheduled "a hearing to consider whether to commence formal action to suspend or revoke" the surety's license. See id. But the Board tabled the item pending the attorney general's opinion regarding the county bail bond board's authority over out-of-county bonds. See id.
You do not ask whether the bail bond surety in this instance has violated section 1704.301. See Request Letter, supra note 1, at 4;see also supra note 5 (setting out section 1704.301). Rather, you suggest that, under chapter 1704, it "is not clear if the Board's authority extends to activity on out-of-county bonds." Request Letter,supra note 1, at 1. You therefore ask whether the Board may "suspend or revoke an individual surety license for that licensee's activity relating to an out-of-county bond." Id. at 4.
Under section 1704.252(1), a bail bond board has express authority to revoke or suspend a license if a license holder "violates this chapter or a rule adopted by the board under this chapter." TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. §
In addition, section 1704.101(3) authorizes a county bail bond board to "supervise and regulate each phase of the bonding business in the county." Id. § 1704.101(3). The term "bonding business" means "the solicitation, negotiation, or execution of a bail bond by a bail bond surety." Id. § 1704.001(4) (Vernon Supp. 2008). As we stated in Opinion
We consequently conclude that a county bail bond board's enforcement authority extends to all violations committed by a bail bond surety licensed by that board with respect to all bonds executed in that county, including those that relate to a warrant issued by another county. A bail bond surety may violate chapter 1704 on an out-of-county bond that was executed in the licensing county, and if the surety does so, that violation is subject to censure by the licensing county's bail bond board. *Page 5
Very truly yours,
GREG ABBOTT Attorney General of Texas
KENT C. SULLIVAN First Assistant Attorney General
ANDREW WEBER Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel
NANCY S. FULLER Chair, Opinion Committee
Kymberly K. Oltrogge Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee
(1) requests return of the security in writing; and
(2) submits to the bail bond surety written evidence of the conclusion of:
(A) the payment agreement; or
(B) all of the criminal cases for which the security was given.
TEX. OCC. CODE ANN. §