California’s effort to end cash bail is now on hold.
Months before the state was set to get rid of cash bail and put bail bondsmen out of business, the secretary of state announced a referendum against the new law now qualifies for the 2020 ballot.
A coalition of bail agents gathered more than 576,000 signatures for the referendum.
President of the Golden State Bail Agents Association, Topo Padilla, said getting rid of the cash bail system would require taxpayers to foot the bill for a $3.2 billion program.
Suspects would be jailed based on a risk assessment under the proposed system.
“The taxpayers, nobody was told about how much it’s going to cost to run this program and whether this program is viably operational,” Padilla said. “What people don’t understand about SB10, is that it’s going to play with public safety.”
Those in support of ending cash bail, believe the system will help reduce racial and economic disparities in the criminal justice system.
Assemblyman Rob Bonta co-authored the law.
“Sometimes doing the right thing requires investments,” he said. “Less people will be incarcerated, certainly people who don’t need to be incarcerated won’t be.”
It’s up to voters to determine what happens next.
Bonta said, “We should not have a system where the jailhouse door opens and closes based on how much money you have, we should not have a system where your judged and liberty is given to you based on the size of your wallet instead of based on your risk.”