7 Steps to become a South Carolina Bail Bondsman/runner

Step 1
In order to become a licensed South Carolina bail bondsman/runner an individual must meet the SC state mandated requirements.

• Resident of the state of South Carolina
• Must be 18 years of age or older
• Must be of good moral character
• May not have been convicted of a Felony or charge of moral turpitude in the previous 10 years

Step 2
If a prospective South Carolina bail bondsman/runner meets the preceding requirements they may enroll in one of the state mandated 30hr pre-licensing bail bondsman/runner class. Upon the completion of the course the instructor will provide the student a certificate of completion.

Step 3
Enroll in the South Carolina required series 19-16 pre-licensing examination offered by PSI. The test will cost $45. This examination will consist of 60 questions, and must be completed in 65 minutes.

Step 4
Complete the bail bondsman/runner application provided by the South Carolina Department of Insurance.

• Application may be found through SCDOI online services. 
• Pay a $400 license fee for a professional bondsman license application, and $200 for a runners license application
• Submit a recent passport sized photograph
• Submit proof of completion of a 30hr pre-licensing course.
• Submit original score from the required PSI examination; this score expires 12 months after the date taken
• Register for fingerprinting 
• Submit proof of net worth
• *If applying for a runners license an appointment of runner BB1102 form must also be submitted.  
• *If applying for a surety bail bondsman license the applicant must also take and pass the series 19-08 examination provided by PSI. This examination is 50 questions with a 1hr time limit. There is no longer any additional education requirement for surety bondsman; they must only take the mandatory 30hr pre-licensing requirement for all South Carolina bail bondsman/runners.

Step 5
Congratulations, wait for your application to be processed by the South Carolina Department of Insurance! The SCDOI will mail the application approval or denial to the mailing address provided via application.

Step 6
Upon receiving an approved license from the SCDOI an individual is deemed a licensed bail bondsman. The certified license must now be clocked in each county the bail bondsman wishes to conduct business. A $150 filing fee will be assessed in the home county to clock a certified license, and any other county the bondsman wishes to conduct business will assess a $100 filing fee to clock a certified license. A professional bondsman must place cash security with the home county clerk of court not to be less than $10,000. This cash deposit will allow a professional bondsman to post any one bond up to $5,000, and a total of all bonds (total liability allowable) of $40,000. A surety bondsman will present the clerk of court a power of attorney provided by the license holders insurance company. This power of attorney allows a surety bondsman to conduct business in behalf of the insurer up to the amount specified.  

Step 7
Now that you are a licensed bail bondsman in South Carolina you must keep your license in good standing. South Carolina has required 6 hours of continuing education to be completed annually in the past; however, this has been changed to 8 hours annually through recent legislation. All bail bondsman licenses expire June 30 of the given year. Therefore, 8 hours of continuing education must be completed prior to June 30 annually, and proof of completion submitted to the SCDOI. The South Carolina Bail Agents Association hosts multiple continuing education classes throughout the year. In addition to continuing education all bail bondsman must provide fingerprints annually by registering at.
 
*Note these steps are necessary only to become a bondsman/runner in South Carolina, These steps are to be used for reference only, SC legislation is ever-changing, and it is best to verify proper state procedure through the states governing body.   

4 Types of Bail Bondsman​ in South Carolina

A South Carolina bail bondsman is a designated agent licensed by the South Carolina Department of Insurance whom pledges consideration to the state of South Carolina in order to ensure the successful completion of a criminal defendants appearance to all court dates required by the court of competent jurisdiction pending the resolution of a criminal accusation. The state of South Carolina designates four types of bail bondsman as outlined in Chapter 38 Subsection 53 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. These types of bondsman will be listed as follows:

1. Accommodation Bondsman – “means a person who has reached the age of eighteen years, is a resident of this State, who, aside from love and affection and release of the person concerned, receives no consideration for action as surety, and who endorses the bail bond after providing satisfactory evidence of ownership, value, and marketability of real property to the extent necessary to reasonably satisfy the official taking bond that the real or personal property will in all respects be sufficient to assure that the full principal sum of the bond will be realized in the event of breach of the conditions of the bond. “Consideration” as used in this item does not include the legal rights of a surety against a defendant by reason of breach of the conditions of a bail bond nor does it include collateral furnished to and securing the surety so long as the value of the surety’s rights in the collateral does not exceed the defendant’s liability to the surety by reason of a breach in the conditions of the bail bond” (1, 38-53-10, SC code of laws).
2. Professional Bondsman – “means any person who is approved and licensed under the provisions of this chapter and who pledges cash or approved securities with the clerk of court as security for bail bonds written in connection with a judicial proceeding and receives or is promised money or other things of value for the pledge” (9, 38-53-10, SC code of laws).
3. Surety Bondsman – “means any person who is approved by and licensed by the director or his designee as an insurance agent, appointed by an insurer by power of attorney to execute or countersign bail bonds for the insurer in connection with judicial proceedings, and receives or is promised money or other things of value for the execution or countersignature” (12, 38-53-10, SC code of laws).
4. Runner – “means a person employed by a bail bondsman for the purpose of assisting the bail bondsman in presenting the defendant in court when required, assisting in the apprehension and surrender of the defendant to the court, keeping the defendant under necessary surveillance, and executing bonds on behalf of the licensed bondsman when the power of attorney has been recorded. “Runner” does not include an attorney or a law enforcement officer assisting a bondsman” (10, 38-53-10, SC code of laws).

The four types of bail bondsman listed are recognized as qualified bondsman in the state of South Carolina. A simple explanation of the four types of bail bondsman as found in the state of South Carolina can be acquired from the subsequent explanations. An accommodation bondsman is any person whom pledges a bail bond out of love and affection for those accused. An example of this type of bondsman is a parent who pledges a full cash bail bond for one of their children. Professional bail bondsman pledge their own resources (cash, property, etc...) to the state of South Carolina in order to conduct business. A surety bondsman, the most common type of bondsman in South Carolina, conducts business in behalf of an insurance company. A South Carolina runner must be licensed underneath a professional bondsman or surety bondsman who will assume all liability for the actions of the runner.

​In response to a recent and continuing topic of “no money bail” and the Department of Justices new social justice system to limit pre-trial bail, I ask WHY? The DOJ wants to put an end to pre-trial bail. The current White House administration has been embracing the get soft on crime hug a thug mentality. The amendment referenced to accomplish this travesty is the 14th amendment.
 
The 14th amendment is for equal protection! Does equal protection only apply to a person accused of violating a law and committing a crime? What about the victim? The person who endures a violent or real or personal property crime. The 14th amendment requires states guarantee the same rights, privileges and protections to all citizens.
 
Equal protection of the law is the right of all persons to have the same access to the law and courts and to be treated equally by the law and courts. Do we really believe that law enforcement officers make arrests based on income? I would hope not, the same way I would hope that law enforcement in the future would not have to.
 
The US census states that the current population is 324,443,202, which BJS states that 0.91% of the adult population is incarcerated. This is the percentage of people that the DOJ under the equal protection clause is focusing on as the court refused to extend to welfare, housing or education to all citizens. The current administration is more focused on incarcerated defendants who have violated the law. The other 99.09 % of law-abiding citizens are being excluded under equal protection.
 
 BJS has admitted that the jail incarceration levels have been declining each year since 2007. The no money bail is the latest step by the Obama administration in encouraging the state courts to move away from bail.
 
We have a system of bail for a reason.  It is part of the 8th amendment of the US constitution, which requires that bail shall not be “excessive “ (higher than is reasonable to assure the defendants appearance). Bail is not meant, as a form of release alone the main objective of bail is to guarantee the state that the defendant will be present for all future court appearances and the court of jurisdiction will be able to try the defendant bringing fourth a disposition and allowing the victim of the crime closure. Without requiring a defendant to post bail there is less incentive to show up for a court date. Then we have overwhelming amounts of bench warrants which law enforcement will never have the time to clear up.
 
The current bail system allows for cash bail, accommodation bail, percentage bail, property bail, personal promise to appear or commercial surety. The latest commercial surety also known as bail bondsman or bail agents have consistently out performed all other forms of release, this form of release has no tax consequence to the taxpayer and puts all financial responsibility on them.
 
The new idea to sell on the 99.09% of law-abiding citizens is a taxpayer program called pretrial services. This program is to do a scientific evaluation on each defendant that is incarcerated. The system scores each defendant and then recommends to the court (judge) already paid a super visional advisement and conditions to be imposed to reach a disposition of a court case. The taxpayer funds this program with no financial burden falling back on the PTR representative. The victim pays for the release of the defendant who broke the law against them.
 
The constitution? What about 1987 when the Supreme Court held that the only limitation imposed in the bail clause is that “ the government’s proposed condition of release not be excessive.” This is a constitutional argument (ADDITIONAL LAW SUITS)
 By the public defenders office for defendants being released through these programs with ankle monitoring, drug tests or other programs. The referenced requirements of GPS, drug/alcohol testing, and various programs required pre conviction for accused defendants (a possible violation of constitutional rights) prior to sentencing. This is the plan to benefit these defendants at taxpayer expense? In addition to pre conviction requirements possibly being unconstitutional for the punishment of defendants prior to conviction, these supervision methods often place a greater financial burden on both the public and low income defendant than posting bail.
 
The 6th amendment states in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy:
Speedy trial, information on nature and cause of accusation, be confronted with the witness against them, process for obtaining witness in favor of them and has assistance of council for defense. Earnings and assets by each state limit the applying for and defense by the public defenders office. Why is this? Barry J. Pollack, president of the National Association of Defense lawyers applauds the efforts of the DOJ and current administration for no cash bail requirement. I wonder if he would applaud the same for the no cash lawyers required for the financially secure defendant.
 
The 9th amendment was set up to keep government from expanding power. The fact that the expansion of power is for such a low percent of US citizens leaves the question of WHY? The role of government is better served to look into rehabilitative treatment based programs for those post-conviction defendants whom are found guilty of the accused offense. Post-conviction programs uphold an individual’s constitutional right as not being punished prior to conviction, while alleviating the monetary burden from the taxpayer for pretrial service programs.
 
The bail process may not be perfect but it is not to blame. The courts must take a more active role in moving cases and prosecuting defendants in a timely manner. The court after conviction may require a program to benefit the defendant if the defendant truly embraces it. The addict may then get help for the addiction opposed to incarceration. Health professionals in secured facilities should treat the mentally ill. The violent offender should be locked away in a correctional facility. Monetary bail is not the problem merely the tool that assists in guaranteeing this result the most effective way.
 
Don Mescia

The criminal justice community typically recognizes a bail bond as a means for releasing a defendant from custody pre-trial. This assumption is correct in that a byproduct of posting bail is that the defendant is released from custody. However, the bail is posted for an entirely different purpose. In its simplest form a bail agent will act as surety in behalf of the defendant for a 10% premium based on the aggregate amount of bail set by a magistrate judge. Most people believe the bail agent is paid simply to gain the release of a loved one from custody. This could not be further from the truth. Bail is posted in order to secure the appearance of the defendant at future dates as required by the court of competent jurisdiction. Bail is accepted by the state as a financial risk  pledged by the bail agent ensuring the defendant appears at each court date required until disposition. For example, a magistrate judge deems a $10,000 bond necessary to ensure the appearance at future court dates  for a defendant. Should the surety deem the defendant desirable risk they may post bail for this individual. The bail agent would typically charge $1,000 premium, and require a family member to sign indemnification paperwork to guarantee the defendants appearance. The surety would then post a bail bond with the court of competent jurisdiction; in turn securing the release of the defendant pre-trial. Now that the defendant has been released the bail bond agent is financially responsible for the defendants competent fulfillment of the contract (appearance at all required court dates). If the defendant fails to appear in court the bail bond agent now has two options.

1. The bail bond agent is granted 90 days post the issuance of a bench warrant to apprehend the absconded defendant. If the agent successfully places the defendant in custody upon an affidavit of surrender the surety may be relieved of their financial responsibility.
2. If the bail bond agent is unable to place the absconded defendant into custody the bail bond will be forfeited. A forfeited bail bond means the bail agent must pay the state the aggregate bail amount pledged. In the example the bail agent would be responsible to pay $10,000 to the state.

If the need to post bail for a loved one should ever arise it is important to maintain the mindset that bail is not posted to get someone out of jail. Bail is posted to guarantee the state that a defendant will be present to stand trial for an accused crime. The bail agents financial pledge allows the state to ensure appearance of defendants by placing a financial risk on the bail agent. A defendant being released from custody is simply a byproduct of posting a bail bond, while the necessity of bail is found in the financial pledge of a bail agent to the state. This financial pledge ensures appearance to all court dates required until disposition, or the bail agent will forfeit the aggregate amount of bail to the state.