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Al Estes, Sr.
FSAA President

Government Payment EXP (formerly known as Government

Payment Services) accepts credit cards from arrestees, and/or

other people for bail bonds, fines, costs, commissary expenses, and then guarantees payment to the law enforcement or government entity.  They are allowed to advertise this service inside the holding facility.  This service is marketed as a convenience.

 

We all know that convenience does not come without costs.  FSAA is opposed to this means of bail because of the resulting costs to the tax paying public and to the individuals who will end up incurring substantial debt by utilizing credit cards to obtain loans.

 

The counties allowing this form of bail will end up with

higher costs due to the increase in people failing to appear in

court.  Failures to appear result in warrants for arrest that

increase the work load of our law enforcement officials. 

The result is an overtaxed public safety system that is bogged

down by having to go out and arrest those failing to appear

and putting them through the courts again.  More policemen/

deputies are needed on the streets and more judicial officials

are needed in the courts to handle the problems caused by

this form of pre-trial release.  FSAA can say that this type

of program results in decrease public safety and increased

government expenses (more tax money needed) because

the U.S. Department of Justice has just produced a report

that proves that individuals released on secured bond were

more likely to appear in court than those released through

any other method.  That report is titled “Bureau of Justice

Statistics Special Report, State Court Processing Statistics,

1990-2004, Pretrial Release of Felony Defendants in State

Courts.” The report is available in its entirety on our Web

site’s News Page.

 

Individuals utilizing a credit card to post their bail incur the

following costs; a processing fee charged by Government

Payment EXP to handle the payment transfer and the monthly

charges on the unpaid principal of the charge.  Of course, since

this is viewed by the court as a monetary payment any outstanding court costs and/or fines will be deducted from the payment when the individual does make his or her court date and the bail is returned (minus those deducted funds), but the individual will still owe the full bail amount to the credit card company.  If the individual does end up incarcerated how will those credit card charges get paid off?  Remember, those citizens with good credit see their rates rise to pay for those losses by the credit companies.

 

During the Florida Sheriff's Association Convention held this

past summer, our Law Enforcement Liaison Committee lobbied

against Government Payment EXP.  That lobbying effort continued when Steve Roberts, Marvin Steiding and I represented FSAA at the Florida Sheriffs Association 2007 Annual Jail Conference and Tradeshow that was held in January 3 – 6 in Destin, Florida.

 

Our lobbyist prepared a letter addressing the negatives of that

company’s operations that was to be sent to Florida sheriffs.  We

postponed sending the letter because an FSAA representative spoke at an advisory committee meeting called by Florida’s Chief Financial Officer to address this company’s operations in the State.  Our representative came away from the meeting believing that the Department of Financial Services agreed with FSAA’s position and would curtail the operations of Government Payment EXP.  However, at present Government Payment EXP continues to conduct business. 

 

At dinner on the first evening of the Jail Conference the CEO of

Government Payment EXP stopped by the table occupied by our

representatives and made a point to inform me that he had not been in Florida working on additional contracts.  This is the same

individual who introduced himself to me during the  last Summer

Sheriffs Conference and then attempted to convince several sheriffs FSAA had no objections to his company doing business in Florida. 

 

Sheriffs suspicious of the CEO asked me about his assertion about FSAA and I made it clear that FSAA was completely against the operations of Government Payment EXP.  The very next evening we discovered the CEO had lied again because the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office made it known that it intended to sign a contract with the company.

 

Upon discovering that Government Payment EXP now has a

lobbyist and has made preliminary agreements with four Florida

counties your representatives went into action and, with the help

of our Law Enforcement Liaison Jamie Adams and lobbyist Frank Messersmith, managed to reach several sheriffs to present our case and to show them a copy we obtained of a legal opinion written in 2000 that stated that credit card bail was illegal. 

 

This is not the end of the fight, FSAA has only fired its first salvo in this battle.  We must continue to meet this threat head on.  FSAA and the Law Enforcement Liaison Committee are working for you and bail in Florida.  Please help FSAA continue to fight for you.  Renew your membership or join now!  Make a contribution to FASPAC to give our Legislative Committee the ammunition it needs to successfully fight credit cards in Tallahassee.




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Last Updated on December 14, 2007