Abbott signs bail restriction into law
Critics say limiting no or low-cost bond won’t curtail crime
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed into law a bill that limits the release of defendants on cashless bail and provides judges with more information about defendants’ criminal histories when setting bail.
Under the law, individuals charged with violent crimes no longer will be able to secure release through no- or low-cost bonds. The same prohibition will apply to suspects who were charged with felonies or assaults while previously out on bond.
The new law also establishes a statewide public database that will provide details about each defendant’s case and bail conditions, and identify the judge or magistrate who set bail. Supporters of the bill have touted the provision as a way to hold judges accountable if they set low bail for a defendant who commits a new crime after posting bond.
The Republican-backed legislation was named after Damon Allen, a state trooper who was gunned down in 2017 while conducting a traffic stop in Fairfield, 60 miles northeast of Waco. The alleged killer was out on bond.
At a bill-signing ceremony in Houston, Abbott was joined by the trooper’s widow, Kasey Allen, as he vowed the new law would “keep dangerous criminals behind bars” and “fix the broken bail system.”
A Hearst Newspapers investigation found that in 2020, more than 18,000 Harris County defendants were charged with new
felonies and misdemeanors while out on bond, three times as many as in 2015.
“You have revolvingdoor releases of dangerous criminals back out onto streets, who then go commit even more crimes,” Abbott said. “The Damon Allen Act makes it harder for dangerous criminals to be released from jail on bail.”
Abbott, a former civil district court judge in Harris County, made clear the bill was aimed at Houston, where he said there is a “serious crime issue … more so than any other part of the state of Texas.” He did not take questions from reporters.
Democratic lawmakers and civil rights groups contend the bill will do little to curtail violent crime. Most people accused of murder while out on bond in Harris County had secured
their release by paying bail, the Hearst Newspapers investigation found. The new law’s restrictions apply only to no-cost and low-cost bonds, meaning those who can afford to post bail still will be able to do so.
The law would not have prevented Dabrett Black, the man charged with Damon Allen’s murder, from posting $15,500 bond after allegedly assaulting a deputy in Smith County earlier that year.
But the justice of the
peace who set Black’s bail later said he lacked information about Black’s criminal history, including a previous charge for assaulting an officer in 2015. The new law would provide that information to judges and magistrates.
Republicans had also pushed for a constitutional amendment they said would bolster the bail bill by allowing judges to deny bail outright if a defendant is accused of certain violent and sexual crimes. The Texas Constitution allows almost all defendants the right to be released on bail, except for those charged with capital murder or certain other repeat offenses.
The measure died after failing to secure the support of two-thirds of the Texas House, the required threshold for constitutional amendments. If approved by the Legislature, the amendment would have been subject to a statewide vote.
The Bail Project, a nonprofit that bails defendants out of jail and advocates for the end of cash bail, said the new law “expands cash bail to the benefit of the bail bond industry” and will keep in jail only those who cannot afford to post bail.
“This legislation will further entrench racial and economic disparities in Texas’ criminal legal system without addressing the safety concerns of communities,” the organization said.
Nonprofits such as The Bail Project would have been barred from helping certain defendants under a previous version of the bill, which allowed only religious groups and family members to bail more than three defendants out of jail within a six-month period.
Republican House members stripped that provision, arguing it seemed designed to steer defendants toward the for-profit bail bond industry and could leave the bill vulnerable to a legal challenge.
State Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican and author of the legislation, has said many nonprofit bail donations “come from out-of-state individuals who have no stake in our state or in our communities.”