‘Dog’ barks out against bill on bail system at Capitol

In one of the Capitol’s more surreal moments, a reality TV star and bounty hunter known as “Dog” — who lives in Hawaii — appeared before a committee Tuesday to testify against a proposal to do away with California’s bail system.

Duane Chapman, whose A&E series “Dog the Bounty Hunter” ran for eight seasons before its 2012 cancellation, was among many bail agents who urged the Assembly Public Safety Committee not to pass the bill in its current form — which they ultimately did.

“Poor people don’t break the law,” he said. “They don’t go outside; they don’t have the money. It’s not the poor man that runs. He has no money to run. It’s just an excuse to say that.” The bill by Assemblyman Rob

Bonta, D-Oakland, squeaked out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee on a 4-2-1 vote. An identical bill by Sen. Bob

Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, passed its first committee hearing earlier in the month.

Chapman’s powers of persuasion might have swayed one of the bill’s own co-authors. At the end of the hearing committee Chairman Reggie

Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, said he was concerned about how the sweeping criminal justice reforms would be put into practice — and that he hoped Bonta and Hertzberg would craft a compromise with the very industry that the proposal sought to dismantle.

“I want this to move out of this committee,” Jones-Sawyer said, “with the understanding and the hope that both the authors will continue to work not only with the business community in this area, but also with law enforcement.”