Money bail supporters turn in signatures to stop change

SACRAMENTO -- A referendum to overturn California's new law phasing out cash bail is one step closer to the 2020 ballot.

Organizers with Californians Against the Reckless Bail Scheme turned in about 577,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office on Tuesday morning. Assuming enough of these are valid to reach the 365,880 threshold, the referendum will qualify and SB 10 will be suspended until the vote nearly two years from now.

Opponents of the law had also threatened to sue to block SB 10 on constitutional grounds. But campaign manager Jeff Flint said a lawsuit isn't "ripe" at this point. The campaign has retained Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk LLP, a leading GOP campaign law firm located in Sacramento.

"There could eventually be legal challenges, but right now with the submission of the signatures the law won't take effect," Flint said.

Any litigation with the Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a critic of cash bail, is also more than a year away, he said. Becerra's office wrote the referendum title and summary used by signature gatherers; these descriptions are often challenged in court.

"It certainly didn't deter us from getting the signatures we needed," Flint said, adding the campaign gathered signatures in all 58 counties.

The effort has raised $3 million, with nearly $1.8 million coming from out-of-state bail surety companies that underwrite bond agents. Gathering signatures took two months and cost $648,000, according to disclosure forms.

SB 10 was the culmination of two years of effort by Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, and numerous allies. It would replace the current bail system with a pretrial risk assessment process.

"It's no surprise to us that the billion-dollar, private-equity firms that control the bail bond industry in California have committed considerable resources to overturning SB 10," said Hertzberg's press secretary, Katie Hanzlik. "They've shown that they will do anything to uphold the status quo of exploiting low-income Californians because it will keep their industry alive."

Due to the complexity of the overhaul, SB 10 was written to go into effect in October, instead of the typical Jan. 1 date of most new laws.

The bill also became a compromise that displeased some supporters of phasing out cash bail. Some critics have claimed pretrial assessment tools often have a racial bias, and have said the law could result in some nonviolent criminals being detained longer.

The committee has named progressive critics of SB 10 on its website, including the ACLU of California.

This drew a harsh rebuke from the ACLU of Northern California Executive Director Abdi Soltani.

"By targeting people in dire circumstances, this $2 billion industry traps families, particularly black and brown families, in insurmountable debt," Soltani said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. "Any implicit or explicit suggestion that the ACLU stands with or supports the bail industry is patently false."