By Austin Fisher
KU Statehouse Wire Service
TOPEKA — In a procedural flurry on Thursday, the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice committee passed two bills and heard a third. The committee unanimously passed Senate Bills 12 and 13 and heard testimony on Senate Bill 90.
When a convict is released from confinement by the Department of Corrections, Senate Bill 13 would allow the department to notify the victim of the release.
“Say there was a domestic violence case where a husband assaulted and battered his wife, and maybe he’s being released or he gets to go on a work release program or something like that, this bill allows them to release that information to the wife,” said committee chair Sen. Greg Smith (R-Overland Park).
Also on Thursday, after four amendments the committee passed Senate Bill 12, which would increase sentences for battery and aggravated battery against judges, attorneys, and court services officers.
Topeka defense lawyer David McDonald critiqued the bill by saying it’s language didn’t include defense attorneys. McDonald was punched in the face by a client during a trial in December.
The bill’s amended language includes public defenders, their assistants, and attorneys contracted with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, and the Kansas State Board of Indigents’ Defense Service. It does not explicitly mention private attorneys.
The two bills that passed through the committee do not yet have a set date to be heard on the Senate floor.
The committee also heard testimony on Senate Bill 90, which would allow the Attorney General to issue Fugitive Apprehension Licenses to independent bounty hunters, officially called bail enforcement agents.
Bondsmen and their bail agents currently go through background checks to get licenses in order to post bail bonds and track down fugitives but they sometimes work with freelance bounty hunters who currently don’t need licenses. Under the new bill freelancers would need to get a background check for a license in order to apprehend fugitives.
Shane Rolf, a bail bondsman from Olathe and executive vice president of the Kansas Bail Agents Association, supported the bill and said it would ensure that freelance bounty hunters are not convicted felons.
“While we do not believe that there is a huge problem with convicted felons acting as independent bounty hunters, there is no agency that checks the status of these independent agents who are not also authorized to post bail,” Rolf said.
Spencer Duncan, a private investigator from Topeka representing the Kansas Association of Licensed Investigators, supported the bill saying the bail enforcement industry needs to be regulated.
“Licensing allows those in an industry who are not following the proper procedures to be weeded out of the system, which is good for the industry and the general public,” Duncan said.
The committee will work the bill Tuesday.
Austin Fisher is a senior studying journalism at the University of Kansas from Lawrence, Kansas.