I heard the news over the weekend HCC Surety acquired Bail USA making them one of the largest commercial surety underwriters in the country. Congratulations to all parties involved. Consolidation is a rare occurrence in our industry and I hope it proves a successful acquisition for HCC.
Today I’ll be attending a meeting of the American Bail Coalition Board of Directors where work will continue on efforts to retain commercial bail as the vital component it is within the criminal justice system. Rarely does a day go by where I and many others are working on issues related to ABC’s initiatives across the country. The most recent concern is legislation proposed by Connecticut Governor Malloy to replace bail bonds with a 10 percent deposit scheme which I wrote about in my most recent blog. The challenges are never ending.
Regrettably, I know when I take a seat at the table tomorrow with ASC President & CEO Bill Carmichael and other leaders of ABC surety company members there will be some vacant seats. The empty chairs should be filled by the leaders of several surety companies who have elected to sit on the sidelines and watch while the commercial bail industry is under attack. The aggregate writings nationwide of those surety companies outside ABC membership is now significantly greater than that of the ABC members. If they think ABC is not effective, what is the alternative?
The individuals, groups and coalitions that seek to eradicate commercial bail have millions of dollars at their disposal while ABC’s budget is limited to those surety companies willing to invest in our industry’s future.
I have travelled the country for a few decades now attending state and national associations where the same people are doing all the work while those that benefit from their efforts contribute neither their time nor money to the cause. Every industry and profession faces these challenges and ours is no different.
I want to personally invite those surety companies who are not currently members of the American Bail Coalition to join us in the fight to preserve and expand the use of commercial bail to the benefit not only of our bail agent partners but the criminal justice system and public safety in general.
Visit AmericanBail.org to view those companies contributing millions of dollars to protect bail agents and surety companies alike. By consolidating our efforts we can collectively defeat those who try to eliminate our industry and the good work bail agents do every single day.