WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Scott Fitzgerald’s (WI-05) Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act, legislation aimed at combating radical bail policies by subjecting bail bonds to insurance fraud laws, passed the House Judiciary Committee today. Specifically, the bill defines bail bonds as insurance products, which subjects them to federal insurance fraud laws and allows states to enact licensing requirements for corporate, for-profit, and non-profit entities that post bail on behalf of defendants.
“Public safety must come first, and our bail system should never be exploited by left-wing groups that help put dangerous criminals back into our communities,” said Congressman Scott Fitzgerald. “This bill closes loopholes that allow bail funds to operate without meaningful oversight and brings accountability to a process that too often ignores risk and prior violent conduct. I thank Chairman Jordan for bringing this bill before the Judiciary Committee and my colleagues for their support as we work to ensure the bail process prioritizes safety over soft-on crime polices. I introduced this legislation with the six victims of the 2021 Waukesha Christmas parade in mind, and it will help ensure a tragedy like that never happens again.”
BACKGROUND: Charitable bail funds are organizations that use money from donations to help pay cash bail for defendants. These charitable funds are a small part of the larger movement to significantly reform or eliminate the cash bail system. Charitable bail funds regularly post bail for individuals charged with violent felonies and previous convictions. For example, a CNN investigation in 2023 into charitable bail funds found that in Indiana from 2019 to 2021, “24 percent of the roughly 1,000 defendants cut loose by The Bail Project – among the largest charitable bail groups in the United States – had been charged with a crime of violence; 35 percent were facing felony charges and had a previous charge of at least one crime of violence.” This led Indiana to pass a law in July 2022 that prohibits charitable bail funds from bailing out felony offenders with a previous conviction for a violent crime. According to an investigation done by CNN, at least nine individuals who were released by a bail charity were subsequently arrested for murder. CNN found that if the Indiana law had been applied nationally, it “likely would have prohibited charities from releasing at least five of the nine defendants who were later arrested on murder charges.”
Read the bill text here.
