California lawmaker pulls bail reform bill in wake of Land Park slaying

A senior-ranking California lawmaker pulled a bill that would have required state courts to take into account a defendant’s ability to pay when setting bail, citing the recent slaying of Sacramento resident Mary Kate Tibbitts.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee on Thursday that he decided to postpone the measure, Senate Bill 262, after it struggled to gain enough votes in the Assembly. He expects to bring it back in 2022.

“A number of members reached out to me and were concerned that the incident in Land Park would impact the bail vote,” Hertzberg said. “They thought that somehow we were doing zero bail. And we weren’t. Just generally speaking, when these things happen in politics, they often have, sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad, an impact on bills that are up in the moment.”

Hertzberg said it’s also been hard to lobby votes for the bill during the pandemic. Many of the critical conversations Hertzberg said he’d normally have with lawmakers or stakeholders in person had to be moved to Zoom calls, a restraint that made it difficult to connect with people in a profession that relies on relationships and networking. Delaying a vote until next year, Hertzberg said, should buy time for more negotiations.

“We will come back next year,” he said. “We’ve made extraordinary progress.”

A 51-year-old transient with a criminal history released allegedly killed Tibbits in her South Land Park home one week ago. The suspect had been in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail in June on an auto theft charge and was released on his own recognizance. He failed to appear in court for a subsequent hearing.

Hertzberg’s bill sought to require the California Judicial Council to adopt a statewide bail schedule for criminal offenses. It would have directed judges to conduct an inquiry into a defendant’s ability to pay bail “without substantial hardship” when setting conditions for release.

The bill also would have required that courts order the return of money or property paid to a bail bond company under specified circumstances, such as when the defendant makes all court appearances in a criminal case, and capped bail bond surcharges at 5%.

Hertzberg said this particular provision would help defendants “avoid predatory lending” by the bail industry.

“It’s just gotten so expensive for people,” he said.

Nearly a year ago, California voters overturned a law Hertzberg carried that would have eliminated cash bail statewide when they supported a referendum backed by the bail industry.

Advocates for Hertzberg’s new bill said that it would put the state in compliance with a March 2021 Supreme Court ruling that held that it is unconstitutional to condition a defendant’s freedom solely on whether he or she can afford bail, and that judges must consider an arrestee’s ability to pay.

Opponents of the bill, including the California District Attorneys Association, seized upon the killing of Tibbitts as an example of the dangers of “zero bail.”

“None of these appalling crimes would likely have occurred had this person been behind bars where he belonged,” Vern Pierson, president of the district attorneys association, said in a statement.

Pierson went on to say that SB 262 was “a fatally flawed measure” that “utterly fails to achieve that goal” of crafting a better bail system while maintaining public safety.

Hertzberg took to Twitter to say that he is “heartbroken and angered” by what happened to Tibbitts, but that SB 262 would have kept her alleged killer off of the streets.

“The Safe and Resilient Communities Act could have prevented this crime from happening in the first place. #SB262 requires the Judicial Council to establish statewide standards for bail amounts, meaning Counties will no longer be able to operate zero bail policies,” Hertzberg wrote.

After he announced that the bill would be taken up by the Legislature next year, Hertzberg issued a statement saying that “the road to equal justice for all is long but we’re committed to taking the road that results in what all Californians deserve: A fair, safe and equitable bail system, free of industry greed.”

“We’re not done yet with bail — not even close,” Hertzberg concluded.

This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 4:42 PM with the headline "California lawmaker pulls bail reform bill in wake of Land Park slaying."