Bills propose mix of zero bail and uniform schedule

Two months after voters repealed a law that eliminated cash bail in California, three state lawmakers are taking a more reserved approach to restructuring the system, this time without reliance on risk assessment tools.

Sen. Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, Assemblymember Rob Bonta, D-Oakland and Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced joint legislation Wednesday that aims to set bail at zero for all misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges. For all other crimes, trial courts would be required to follow a uniform bail schedule set by the California Judicial Council, similar to the emergency bail schedule that was implemented at the onset of the pandemic.

Under the identical bills the lawmakers introduced this week, SB 262 and AB 329, any money paid for bail or bond would be refunded if charges are dropped or a case has been dismissed, or if the defendant has perfect court attendance. The lawmakers said in joint statements that the intent of the measure is to prevent defendants who can't afford to pay bail from being held pretrial, something the California Supreme Court is mulling over in a case involving a San Francisco man whose pretrial detainment on $600,000 bail in 2018 led to a landmark appellate decision that held courts must consider a defendant's ability to pay when setting bail.

Proposition 25 was put on the November ballot last year after a successful effort from the bail industry and voters to repeal SB 10, the 2018 law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that eliminated cash bail in California and replaced it with risk assessment tools.

"Anyone who thought last year's deceptive campaign by the money bail industry would stop California's march toward a safer, more just system was gravely mistaken," Hertzberg said in a statement. "This fight is only beginning, and we're in it for the long haul," he added.

It wasn't just the bail industry that opposed Proposition 25, however. Civil rights groups and defense attorneys voted against the measure because they feared a reliance on computer-generated risk scores would lead to more people being detained pretrial based on arbitrary data the algorithms use.

It's likely these proposed measures, which are not yet in print, will face significant opposition from the bail industry.

-- Tyler Pialet