SPLC Action Fund: SB 108 puts bail bond industry before low-income Louisianans
The Louisiana House Insurance Committee today voted in favor of Senate Bill 108, which would absolve bail bond companies from having to refund as much as $6 million overcharged to approximately 50,000 New Orleans families after the commissioner of insurance found that the companies systematically overcharged people for the last 14 years.
Bail bond companies across Louisiana make profits off the backs of low-income families who have to scrape together enough money to buy the freedom of their loved ones. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the bail industry unsurprisingly does not want to pay families the millions of dollars they are owed.
The dispute over whether bail bond companies should refund the people they overcharged is a question for the courts to decide. It is not the Legislature’s place to absolve these profitable companies of their misdeeds. Simply put, SB 108 is unconstitutional legislation that puts the wants of the bail bond industry over the needs of New Orleans families.
Photo by Jonathan Weiss / Alamy Stock Photo
