I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2134
To amend title 18, United States Code, and the Federal Rules of Criminal 
Procedure with respect to bail bond forfeitures. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 15, 2003
Mr. KELLER (for himself, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BASS, Ms. EDDIE 
BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. 
BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DAVIS 
of Florida, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 
ISSA, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. MEEKS of 
New York, Mr. MICA, Mr. NADLER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. SCOTT of Vir-
ginia, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. HART, Mr. GAR-
RETT of New Jersey, Mr. OTTER, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. LAMPSON, and Mr. 
FOLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, and the Federal 
Rules of Criminal Procedure with respect to bail bond 
forfeitures.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bail Bond Fairness 
Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 
findings: 
(1) Historically, the sole purpose of bail in the 
United States was to ensure the defendant’s physical 
presence before a court. The bail bond would be de-
clared forfeited only when the defendant actually 
failed to appear as ordered. Violations of other, col-
lateral conditions of release might cause release to 
be revoked, but would not cause the bond to be for-
feited. This historical basis of bail bonds best served 
the interests of the Federal criminal justice system. 
(2) Currently, however, Federal judges have 
merged the purposes of bail and other conditions of 
release. These judges now order bonds forfeited in 
cases in which the defendant actually appears as or-
dered but he fails to comply with some collateral 
condition of release. The judges rely on Federal Rule 
of Criminal Procedure 46(e) as authority to do so. 
(3) Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 46(e) 
has withstood repeated court challenges. In cases 
such as United States v. Vaccaro, 51 F.3d 189 (9th 
Cir. 1995), the rule has been held to authorize Fed-
eral courts specifically to order bonds forfeited for 
violation of collateral conditions of release and not 
simply for failure to appear. Moreover, the Federal
courts have continued to uphold and expand the rule 
because they find no evidence of congressional intent 
to the contrary, specifically finding that the provi-
sions of the Bail Bond Act of 1984 were not in-
tended to supersede the rule. 
(4) As a result, the underwriting of bonds for 
Federal defendants has become virtually impossible. 
Where once the bail agent was simply ensuring the 
defendant’s physical presence, the bail agent now 
must guarantee the defendant’s general good behav-
ior. Insofar as the risk for the bail agent has greatly 
increased, the industry has been forced to adhere to 
strict underwriting guidelines, in most cases requir-
ing full collateral. Consequently, the Federal crimi-
nal justice system has been deprived of any mean-
ingful bail bond option. 
(5) In the absence of a meaningful bail bond 
option, thousands of defendants in the Federal sys-
tem fail to show up for court appearances every 
year. When this happens, the expense and effort by 
Federal law enforcement officers to investigate and 
apprehend defendants is wasted and the overall in-
terests of justice are thwarted. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to restore bail bonds to their historical ori-
gin as a means solely to ensure the defendant’s 
physical presence before a court; and 
(2) to grant judges the authority to declare bail 
bonds forfeited only where the defendant actually 
fails to appear physically before a court as ordered 
and not where the defendant violates some other col-
lateral condition of release. 
SEC. 3. FAIRNESS IN BAIL BOND FORFEITURE. 
(a)(1) Section 3146(d) of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting at the end ‘‘The judicial 
officer may not declare forfeited a bail bond for violation 
of a release condition set forth in clauses (i)–(xi), (xiii), 
or (xiv) of section 3142(c)(1)(B)’’. 
(2) Section 3148(a) of title 18, United States Code, 
is amended by inserting at the end ‘‘Forfeiture of a bail 
bond executed under clause (xii) of section 3142(c)(1)(B) 
is not an available sanction under this section and such 
forfeiture may be declared only pursuant to section 
3146.’’. 
(b) Rule 46(e)(1) of the Federal Rules of Criminal 
Procedure is amended by striking ‘‘there is a breach of 
condition of a bond’’ and inserting ‘‘the defendant fails 
to appear physically before the court’’.
Æ