A bill designed to rein in rogue bail bond agents and “Wild West” tactics sometimes used to capture fugitives has passed the Montana House and is now before the Senate, where state Sen. Ryan Lynch likes its chances.
“I think the Senate will see the same wisdom in it that the House did,” the Butte Democrat said Monday.
Republican Troy Downing, the state’s auditor and commissioner of Securities and Insurance, proposed the legislation in response to a bounty hunt in Butte that turned fatal and other violent incidents.
Republican Rep. Bill Mercer of Billings and Lynch are sponsoring the bill and it recently passed the House with strong bipartisan support on an 83-17 vote. Mercer carried it in the House and Lynch will carry it in the Senate.
Fourteen Republicans and three Democrats in the House opposed the bill, but all House members from Butte-Silver Bow and six surrounding counties in southwest Montana voted for it.
They included Butte Democrats Derek Harvey, Donavon Hawk and Jennifer Lynch, and Republicans John Fitzpatrick of Anaconda, Marta Bertoglio of Clancy, Gregory Frazer of Deer Lodge, Tom Welch of Dillon and Ken Walsh of Twin Bridges.
Republicans control both chambers of the Legislature but the House vote shows strong bipartisan backing.
“Our agency is proud that our ongoing discussions with stakeholders led to broad bipartisan support for our bill in the House,” Downing said in a statement to The Montana Standard on Monday. “It’s clear we need to enact reasonable sideboards to protect public safety and the rights of defendants.”
Downing thanked Mercer for carrying the bill in the House and said he looked forward to working with Lynch to get it through the Senate and to the governor’s desk.
The bill would require all bail recovery agents to be trained and licensed and in most circumstances, notify police of planned apprehensions.
They would have to be 21 or older, could not be convicted felons and must be instructed on procedures for detaining people, their civil rights, the use of force and civil liability, among other things.
Numerous bail bondsmen have opposed the bill, saying it’s restrictive and based on the misdeeds of a few bad actors.
“The bill as drafted is a knee-jerk reaction to a few incidents that have occurred across the state concerning fugitive recovery,” John Looney, president of the Montana Bail Agents Association, told a House committee in January.
Downing says there were abuses before he took office in 2021 but some recent cases led to demands for action. Mercer told lawmakers that a botched bounty hunt in Butte was a “tipping point.”
Prosecutors say on Dec. 19, 2021, bondsman Jay Hubber and another man, Nicholas Jaeger, barged into William Harris’ house in Butte looking for a bail-jumper. There were several other people in the house, too.
Hubber tased the bail jumper and during a struggle, Jaeger took a gun from Hubber and in the chaos shot Harris, prosecutors allege. Harris, 42, was dead when police arrived. Jaeger, a convicted felon, had joined Hubber to assist in the bounty hunt.
Jaeger and Hubber, both 33 at the time, were each charged with deliberate homicide and aggravated burglary. They have pleaded not guilty, and the cases are pending. Downing suspended Hubber’s surety bail license last year.
Anything can happen in a legislative session and even bills with bipartisan backing in both chambers can get derailed, often during late-session political maneuvering. But Ryan said he likes this bill’s chances.
“I think it’s long overdue and common-sense regulation,” he said.
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