Georgia senate passes bill curtailing charitable bail funds for protest groups
Source: The Guardian
Georgia senate passes bill curtailing charitable bail funds for protest groups
Bill passed by Republican-dominated state senate may exacerbate deadly overcrowding in Fulton county jail
George Chidi
Fri 2 Feb 2024 00.25 GMT
Last modified on Fri 2 Feb 2024 00.27 GMT
The Georgia state senate passed legislation Thursday mostly outlawing bail funds for protest groups, and added dozens of offenses to the list of charges requiring cash bail to secure release.
The passage of SB63 by a 30-17 vote in the Republican-dominated state senate arrives as three activists operating the Atlanta Solidarity Fund face state-level racketeering and charity fraud charges in connection with the prosecution of dozens of protesters against “Cop City”, an Atlanta project to build a police-training facility.
The bill would require any individual or group raising money as a charitable bail fund and soliciting donations for the release of accused persons to register and meet the requirements of a bail bond company. Under Georgia law, a county sheriff has absolute discretion over who can register as a bondsman, giving local law enforcement an effective veto over the bail component of political protests, said state senator Josh McLaurin, an Atlanta-area Democrat.
“The program that [US senator Raphael] Warnock’s church runs, a Mother’s Day bailout they do every year, will now be illegal under this bill, because charitable organizations will no longer be allowed to bail out more than three people a year,” McLaurin said.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/01/georgia-senate-restricts-cash-bail-protestors-jail-overcrowding
