Martin Basaldua, owner and founder of Superior Bail Bonds, spends two hours every day gathering signatures to try and stop Senate Bill 10. The new law, which goes into effect in October 2019, eliminates cash bail in California and means the end of Basaldua’s family business and the bail industry as a whole. But neither is disappearing quietly. Agents across the state are gathering signatures for a repeal of SB 10 in 2020. “I spent 15 minutes with just one person,” said Basaldua. “I educate voters on how bad [it is] and how much opposition it has.”
Jae Brattain, owner of Absolutely Affordable Bail Bonds, has also been collecting signatures. “It doesn’t make any sense,” said Brattain, who describes SB 10 as “detrimental to California residents.” Not only will it infringe on people’s right to bail, said the bond agents, but it will also cost taxpayers billions. Initial estimates of the cost to taxpayers for supervision of defendants released pretrial had been around $1 billion, said Basaldua, who stated estimates are now up near $3 billion.
While both bondsmen are insistent SB 10 will have detrimental effects, implementation details, development of the risk assessment tools, and funding are still very much in the preliminary stages. “There are still important procedures and crime definitions that must be developed by the state’s Judicial Council and California counties,” said Sheriff Bill Brown, “so to some extent the devil will be in the details.”