Session of 1998
                   
HOUSE BILL No. 2821
         
By Committee on Judiciary
         
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            9             AN ACT concerning bail bondspersons and their agents.
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11       Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
12           Section 1. (a) No surety or bonding company shall employ or con-
13       tract with any person for the purpose of arresting, recapturing, returning
14       to custody or surrendering any defendant or fugitive, except as provided
15       in this section and subject to the restrictions of this section.
16           (b) No surety or bonding company, or any of its employees or agents,
17       shall be immune or exempt from any law or cause of action by virtue of
18       their surety relationship to any defendant or fugitive except that such
19       surety or bonding company, and its employees and agents, may use rea-
20       sonable force to retake a defendant or fugitive for whom a warrant has
21       been issued for the purposes of surrender on such warrant.
22           (c) No employee or agent of a surety or bonding company shall forc-
23       ibly enter or remain within any occupied structure without valid consent,
24       or use deadly force or the threat of deadly force, for the purpose of
25       retaking a defendant or fugitive who is not charged with a felony violation,
26       or when such acts are otherwise unreasonable.
27           (d) A surety or bonding company shall be civilly liable to any person
28       who sustains damages as a result of any act by its employee or agent,
29       including punitive damages when allowed by law and reasonable attorney
30       fees and costs of litigation. Any surety or bonding company charging a
31       fee for services shall maintain a minimum insurance insuring for such
32       damages of $1,000,000 per occurrence, and otherwise shall not enter into
33       any agreement with any person to insure, compensate or hold harmless
34       such surety or bonding company for such liability.
35           (e) Any surety or bonding company shall maintain a list of all em-
36       ployees and agents and file a copy of such list with the sheriff in each
37       county where it operates at least once every 60 days. No attempt shall be
38       made to retake any defendant or fugitive until notice shall be given to the
39       police department of the city where the defendant or fugitive is located
40       or, if not within a city, the sheriff of the county.
41           (f) Any surety or bonding company which seeks to employ or contract
42       with an agent shall be required to conduct a criminal background check
43       prior to such agent's employment and a discovery of any previous felony

HB 2821

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  1       conviction or convictions shall disallow employment in the capacity of
  2       agent.
  3           (g) As used in this section, the term ``agent'' shall include a bounty
  4       hunter.
  5           Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
  6       publication in the statute book.
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