Bondsmen Unite: 2009 CBAA Annual Convention Day 1
October 15, 2009As last year, California bail agents met at Lake Tahoe for the 2009 Annual Convention of the California Bail Agents (CBAA). Day one was Monday and included the usual State of the Association and PBUS National Updates.
Pretrial Release
Continuing Education Credit was offered to bondsmen who attended all required sessions, the first of which was an attorney presentation regarding Pre Trial Release presented by Ash Pirayou of Rutan & Tucker and a panel on Credit Card Bail. Pirayou reviewed current happenings in Pretrial Release (commonly known as Release on Own Recognizance or “OR“) in Santa Clara County. Pirayou said that Santa Clara County jailsare attempting to use pretrial release to relieve jail overcrowding and save money, but the bottom line numbers show a significantly different picture. He called on bail agents to help paint an accurate public picture.
Orange County Sheriff Candidate
Bondsmen were also addressed by Bill Hunt, candidate for Orange County Sheriff. Hunt, who spent 22 years in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, spoke passionately about the job he seeks. Hunt told the group that prior to Corona taking office, the OCSD was a model agency. Since then, there have been indictments, a financial crisis and that currently the “culture in the Orange County Jail system is tragic.” As Sheriff, Hunt indicated that he would uphold the bail system because the bail system works and there is no need to create bureaucracy to attempt to do the same thing.
The lunch speakers included Assemblymember Curt Hagman, Supervisor Rob Brown and LA City Attorney Carmen Trutanich.
After lunch, the continuing education featured a Legal Bail Panel. The day concluded with a meet and greet fundraiser for Hagman who is also a bail bondsman, followed by the annual Bocce Ball Tournament.
Posted in California Bail Bonds, California Jails, Professional Bail Associations | 1 Comment »
October 31st, 2009 at 9:52 am
Great article, I was at the CBAA convention and enjoyed it much more this year than years past. You should change the name to “bondsmen that care about their future unite.” I go to CBAA every year and I never see anyone there from the companies that “make the most waves” and that are ruining the industry. We really need to band together and get rid of these companies and return the industry to an equal playing field. We need to police ourselves and speak out against soliciting at the jails/courts, cutting rates, ridiculous payment plans, bait and switches, etc, etc…