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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fifth Legislature, First Regular Session
failure; appear; surety; notice; rules
Purpose
Effective January 1, 2022, establishes notification and deadline requirements related to persons released on bail.
Background
A person who is charged with an offense that is bailable as a matter of right, at an appearance before a judicial officer, is required to be ordered release pending trial on the person's own recognizance or on the execution of bail in an amount specified by the judicial officer. Statute establishes factors to be considered in determining the method of release and the amount of bail (A.R.S. § 13-3967). If bail is authorized by the court, the sheriff or keeper of a county or city jail must accept a secured appearance bond from an employee of a bail bond agent if the employee has proper bail agency identification. If bail is authorized, secured appearance bonds, money orders, cashier's checks or cash may be accepted (A.R.S. § 13-3969).
A surety must be relieved from liability on an appearance bond on which the defendant is released if: 1) the surety surrenders the defendant on that appearance bond into the custody of the sheriff of the county in which the prosecution is pending on or before the day and time the defendant is ordered to appear in court; 2) the defendant is in the custody of the sheriff of the county in which the prosecution is pending on or before the day and time the defendant is ordered to appear in court, the surety provides an affidavit of surrender of the appearance bond to the sheriff and the sheriff reports the affidavit of surrender of the appearance bond and the defendant's custody to the court; or 3) before the defendant is released to the custody of the surety, the defendant is released or transferred to the custody of another government agency, preventing the defendant from appearing in court on the date and time the defendant is ordered to appear, and the surety establishes: a) the surety did not know and could not have reasonably known of the release or transfer or that a release or transfer was likely to occur; and b) the defendant's failure to appear was a direct result of the release or transfer (A.R.S. § 13-3974).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires the court to provide notice of a defendant's failure to appear to the surety and the bail bond agent who is responsible for the defendant's appearance if a defendant who is released on an appearance bond:
a) fails to appear for a required court appearance; and
b) the court declares the defendant failed to appear and issues a warrant for the defendant's arrest.
2. Requires the notice to be completed by email if the surety or bail bond agent provides an email address at the undertaking of bail.
3. Requires the court to provide notice at the physical address that is included in the undertaking of bail if no email address is provided.
4. Requires the court to grant the bail bond agent who is liable for the defendant's appearance bond 120 days to compel the defendant's appearance on declaration by a court that a defendant released on bond has failed to appear.
5. Requires the court to fully exonerate the defendant's appearance bond if the defendant makes the appearance within the 120 days.
6. Forfeits the appearance bond if the defendant does not make the appearance before or on the 120th day.
7. Becomes effective on January 1, 2022.
House Action
JUD 2/17/21 DP 6-4-0-0
3rd Read 3/4/21 31-28-1
Prepared by Senate Research
March 24, 2021
JA/kja