SB1810

SECTION 1. Chapter 431, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new article to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"article

bail enforcement agents

PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

§431: -101 Scope. This article shall govern the qualifications and procedures for granting licenses to all bail enforcement agents.

§431: -102 Definitions. As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Bail enforcement agent" or "bounty hunter" means a person who transacts the apprehension or surrender of a defendant in a pending criminal case who has been released from custody under a financially secured appearance, cash, or other bond and has had that bond declared forfeited, or a defendant in a pending criminal case who has violated a bond condition whereby apprehension and reincarceration are permitted.

PART II. LICENSING REQUIREMENTS,

PROCEDURES AND ENFORCEMENT

§431: -201 License required; exception. No person holding oneself out as a bail enforcement agent in this State shall do so unless so licensed by this State.

§431: -202 General qualifications for license. For the protection of the public, the commissioner shall not issue or extend any license for a bail enforcement agent to any individual:

(1) Less than eighteen years of age;

(2) Who has been convicted in any jurisdiction of a felony involving:

(A) Theft;

(B) Unlawful use or possession of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument;

(D) Unlawful use, possession, or sale of a narcotic or other dangerous drug; or

(3) Who has been commited for a mental disorder to any hospital, mental institution, or sanitarium and does not possess a certificate from a physician that the individual no longer suffers from the mental disorder such that the mental disorder would interfere with or prevent the individual from handling dangerous weapons.

§431: -203 Applications for license. (a) Application for any such license shall be made to the commissioner upon forms as prescribed and furnished by the commissioner.

(b) Each applicant for license as a bail enforcement agent shall prior to the issuance of any such license, personally take and pass an eight-hour criminal justice course administered or approved by the commissioner.

(c) Each applicant for license as a bail enforcement agent shall prior to the issuance of any such license, personally take and pass to the satisfaction of the commissioner an examination given by the commissioner as a test of the applicant's qualifications and competence.

(d) In addition, each applicant shall submit fingerprints to the police of the county in which the individual resides and shall provide the commissioner with consent to perform a criminal history background check on the individual.

(e) Licenses issued under this article shall be subject to renewal every three years upon the original issuance.

§431: -204 Prohibitions. In executing one's duties as a bail enforcement agent, no bail enforcement agent may:

(1) Apprehend a defendant unless the bail enforcement agent has identified oneself to the defendant as a bail enforcement agent licensed under this article; or

(2) Enter a residence to apprehend a defendant unless the bail enforcement agent has obtained permission to enter the premises from a person of majority age residing at the residence."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1810
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII