Relating to insurance companies acting as surety for bail bonds, including licensure requirements to act as a bail enforcement agent or business

This bill relates to insurance companies acting as surety for bail bonds, including licensure requirements to act as a bail enforcement agent or business. The bill provides that the requirements of Code chapter 80A (private investigative agencies and security agencies) do not apply to a person employed full or part-time by one employer in connection with the affairs of the employer, except for a person employed by a surety licensed pursuant to Code chapter 811 who is acting as a bail enforcement agent. 48(2) may act as surety to insure the fidelity of bail bonds in criminal cases.1, without receiving a license from the department of public safety as specified in Code chapter 80A. Bail enforcement agent is defined as a person engaged in the bail enforcement business, including licensees and persons engaged in the bail enforcement business whose principal place of business is in a state other than Iowa. “Bail enforcement business” means the business of taking or attempting to take into custody the principal on a bail bond issued or a deposit filed in relation to a criminal proceeding to assure the presence of the defendant at trial, but does not include such actions that are undertaken by a peace officer or a law enforcement officer in the course of the officer’s official duties. Current law allows the surety to surrender the defendant at any time before the forfeiture of the undertaking.1, without receiving a license from the department of public safety as specified in Code chapter 80A.8(3), which currently provides that a surety, for purposes of surrendering a defendant, may arrest the defendant or, by written authority endorsed on a certified copy of the undertaking, may empower another suitable person to make the arrest.12(2)(d), which currently provides that a bail enforcement agent exempt from licensing requirements is authorized to apprehend, detain, or arrest a principal on a bail bond, wherever issued. The bill provides that a person is not authorized to detain, apprehend, or arrest a principal on a bail bond without being licensed or registered.