Insurance: bail licenses.

(1) Existing law provides for the issuance of bail licenses under the jurisdiction of the Insurance Commissioner. Existing law requires persons soliciting or negotiating the execution or delivery of an undertaking of bail on behalf of a surety insurer to be licensed as a bail agent. This bill would require each surety insurer or bail permittee to pay a fee of $15 per bail bond transaction. These fees would go to the Bail Investigation and Prosecution Fund, created as a special account in the Insurance Fund. This bill would provide that moneys in the Bail Investigation and Prosecution Fund be distributed by the commissioner, upon appropriation, to fund the reasonable costs incurred in regulating entities involved in the undertaking of bail, as specified. This bill would require the commissioner to reduce the amount of the assessment, as specified, if the total amount in the Bail Investigation and Prosecution Fund ever exceeds $8,000,000. This bill would authorize the commissioner to develop guidelines to implement or clarify these provisions. This bill would require the commissioner to provide an annual report on the department's Internet Web site including various information, as specified. (2) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the public's right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.