Chad Conley Bail Bonds
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Agent Resource Center

In 2020, California voted on ending money bail. 56.4% said keep it (certified results, UC Berkeley IGS).

That's a win. It's also a margin. Nearly 44% voted the other way, and there will be a next time.

Campaigns didn't earn that 56%, and campaigns alone won't grow it. What grows it is every family who deals with a bail agent and walks away thinking, "They knew what they were doing, and they treated us right." Every missed court date handled fast. Every bond written at the right rate. Every forfeiture that never has to happen.

Voters don't grade us one office at a time. One badly run shop costs all of us.

The only way the 56% goes up is if we raise our skill level and our standards, across the whole industry. No new laws. No new regulation. Just the rules we already have, done well, and the tools that help us do it. That's what this section is for.

I know what you're thinking

Some of you are reading this and thinking, "Why is this guy telling everybody?" Keep your head down. You've got good skills. Use them, make your money, and stay ahead of everybody else until they figure it out on their own.

I understand that. And that, right there, is the problem. That's why this industry isn't as good as it could be.

I don't expect most agents to agree with me. I'd guess two out of three won't.

But I remember being a grown man, sitting in front of the TV, crying. Watching people in the State Senate vote my life away, just like that. Watching the yeas and nays at the bottom of the screen. In August 2018, SB 10 passed the Senate 26 to 12 (California Legislature vote record) and was signed into law a week later (Governor's office). A lot of us felt our stomachs drop. For most bail agents, this isn't just a business. It's who we are. And it was almost taken away, just like that.

I've been through this before. Years ago, I was a builder. When the housing market crashed, home prices dropped by about a third, and I lost everything. It took me years to rebuild, because building wasn't just what I did. It was who I was.

So when SB 10 passed, I knew exactly what it meant to have who you are taken away. The voters gave it back in 2020. But in this industry, that threat isn't going away. We'll keep facing it. The best protection we have is being so good at what we do that the public won't let it happen.

What I'm working toward

I'd like to see bail agents treat each other the way good attorneys do: compete hard, but with respect, and pick up the phone when another agent needs help. I'd like fair competition, where everyone plays by the same filed rates and the same rules, and the best service wins. And I'd like us to earn that 56%, and more, one family at a time.

That's what I'd like to leave in this industry.

— Chad Conley

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