O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 17-6-50 (2019)

Persons deemed professional bondsmen; criminal background investigation information to be provided to clerk of court

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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(a) Bondsmen or persons who hold themselves out as signers or sureties of bonds for compensation are declared to be professional bondsmen.

(b) A professional bondsperson is one who holds himself or herself out as a signer or surety of bonds for compensation who must meet the following qualifications: (1) Is 18 years of age or over; (2) Is a resident of the State of Georgia for at least one year before making application to write bonds; (3) Is a person of good moral character and has not been convicted of a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude; and (4) Is approved by the sheriff and remains in good standing with respect to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and all rules and regulations established by the sheriff in the county where the bonding business is conducted. (c) The sheriff of the county in which the bonding business is conducting business or is seeking approval to conduct business shall initiate a criminal background investigation to ensure that a professional bondsman has not been convicted of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude in this state or any other jurisdiction. The sheriff shall require the professional bondsman to furnish two full sets of fingerprints which the sheriff shall submit to the Georgia Crime Information Center. The center shall submit a full set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check. (d) It shall be the duty of each professional bondsman approved by the sheriff in accordance with this part to provide the clerk of each court before which one or more of such professional bondsman’s principals are required to appear with the business name, complete address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the chief operating officer or his or her designee of such professional bondsman for the purpose of receiving any notices that may be sent pursuant to Code Section 17-6-71. Each professional bondsman shall have the duty to keep such information current and accurate. It shall be the duty of each clerk of court to keep, maintain, and update such information as provided by a professional bondsman.

History

Ga. L. 1921, p. 243, § 5; Code 1933, § 27-502; Ga. L. 1994, p. 532,

§ 3; Ga. L. 2002, p. 942, § A; Ga. L. 2009, p. 688, § 1/HB 147.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Construction. - Because the two requirements of O.C.G.A. § 17-6-50(b)(3) are stated in the conjunctive, the mere fact that a bondsman was never convicted of crimes for which the bondsman was arrested was not dispositive, and the lack of prior convictions did not necessarily

equate to good moral character. Pryor Org., Inc. v. Stewart, 274 Ga. 487, 554 S.E.2d 132 (2001). ‘‘Good moral conduct.’’ - Term ‘‘good moral conduct’’ in O.C.G.A. § 17-650(b)(3), referring to the qualifications of a professional bondsman, is sufficiently def-

inite to apprise an individual purporting to serve as a professional bondsperson that he or she cannot engage in unauthorized acts of law enforcement. Pryor Org., Inc. v. Stewart, 274 Ga. 487, 554 S.E.2d 132 (2001). Approval of sureties. - Applicants for a certificate to operate as a bail bond company failed to state a procedural due process violation under O.C.G.A. §§ 17-6-15 and 17-6-50 because Georgia law gave the sheriffs broad discretion to determine who was an acceptable surety to write bonds in their respective counties and the provisions did not require a sheriff to accept any specific applicant. A.A.A. Always Open Bail Bonds, Inc. v. Dekalb

County, 129 Fed. Appx. 522 (11th Cir. 2005) (Unpublished). Standing to challenge requirements of statute. - Applicant to become a professional bondsperson whose prior felony convictions were not removed by an order restoring the applicant’s civil and political rights, issued by the Board of Pardons and Paroles, lacked standing to assert that the requirement of O.C.G.A. § 17-6-50 that a professional bondsperson have no felony convictions conflicts with the Board’s constitutional authority. Harrison v. Wigington, 269 Ga. 388, 497 S.E.2d 568 (1998). Cited in Manders v. Lee, 338 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir. 2003).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Section applies to limitation on public officials. - O.C.G.A. § 45-11-8, prohibiting elected officials from engaging in the bail bond business, pertains to the definition found in O.C.G.A. § 17-6-50. 1980 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 80-85. Restoration of civil and political rights does not negate a conviction for purposes of O.C.G.A. § 17-6-50(b)(3), nor does it negate the separate necessity for finding that the applicant is of good moral

character. 1997 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U97-10. Approval of sureties. - Former Code 1933, §§ 27-901, 27-902, and 27-801 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 17-6-1, 17-6-2, and 17-7-90) provided for the approval of sureties by sheriffs or judicial officers. Qualifications, such as solvency and reliability, may be inquired into before approval. 1970 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U70-83.

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 8A Am. Jur. 2d, Bail and Recognizance, § 42 et seq. C.J.S. - 8 C.J.S., Bail; Release and Detention Pending Proceedings, §§ 2 et seq., 170. ALR. - Qualification of surety on bail bond as affected by lien or encumbrance on his real property, 56 A.L.R. 1097.

Validity, construction, and application of statutes regulating bail bond business, 13 A.L.R.3d 618. Validity of statute abolishing commercial bail bond business, 19 A.L.R.4th 355.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1998–2026 · leading case: Harrison v. Wigington, 497 S.E.2d 568 (Ga. 1998).
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Harrison v. Wigington, 497 S.E.2d 568 (Ga. 1998). · cites it 18× “Harrison did not meet the qualifications set forth in OCGA § 17-6-50 (b) (3), which provides that a professional bondsperson must be of “good moral character” and have no convictions for “a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude.”
Pryor Org., Inc. v. Stewart, 554 S.E.2d 132 (Ga. 2001). · cites it 10× “OCGA § 17-6-50 establishes the qualifications of “professional bondspersons.”
Anytime Bail Bonding, Inc. v. State, 828 S.E.2d 662 (Ga. Ct. App. 2019). · cites it 2× “Notice of the execution hearing shall be served by the clerk of the court in which the bond forfeiture occurred within ten days of such failure to appear by certified mail or by electronic means as provided in Code Section 17-6-50 to the surety at the address listed on the bond…”
The Bondsman, Inc. v. Keybo Taylor, Sheriff of Gwinnett Cnty. (Ga. Ct. App. 2023). · cites it 10× “The trial court conducted a hearing and granted summary judgment to the Sheriff before 1 See OCGA § 17-6-50 et. seq. receiving evidence in support of the mandamus action.”
Don Johnson Bonding Co. Inc. v. State of Georgia, 803 S.E.2d 774 (Ga. Ct. App. 2017). · cites it 2× “Notice of the execution hearing shall be served by the clerk of the court in which the bond forfeiture occurred within ten days of such failure to appear by certified mail or by electronic means as provided in Code Section 17-6-50 to the surety at the address listed on the bond…”
State v. Faison (Ga. 2026). · cites it 2× “” OCGA § 17-6-50(a). “[T]he term ‘bail recovery agent’ means any person who performs services or takes action for the purpose of apprehending the principal on a bail bond granted in this state or capturing a fugitive who has escaped from bail in this state for gratuity, benefit,…”
Willie Santonio Manders v. Thurman Lee, 338 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir. 2002). “Sheriffs must “publish and make available written rules and regulations defining acceptable sureties and prescribing under what conditions sureties may be accepted.”
A.A.A. Always Open Bail Bonds, Inc. v. Dekalb Cnty., 129 F. App'x 522 (11th Cir. 2005). “” O.C.G.A. § 17-6-50(b), (b)(4). Under these statutes, the sheriff has discretion to decide whether a candidate is acceptable, and the statute “shall not” require a sheriff to accept any specific applicant.”
— 17-6-50(a) — 1 case
State v. Faison (Ga. 2026). “” OCGA § 17-6-50(a). “[T]he term ‘bail recovery agent’ means any person who performs services or takes action for the purpose of apprehending the principal on a bail bond granted in this state or capturing a fugitive who has escaped from bail in this state for gratuity, benefit,…”
— 17-6-50(b) — 1 case
A.A.A. Always Open Bail Bonds, Inc. v. Dekalb Cnty., 129 F. App'x 522 (11th Cir. 2005). “” O.C.G.A. § 17-6-50(b), (b)(4). Under these statutes, the sheriff has discretion to decide whether a candidate is acceptable, and the statute “shall not” require a sheriff to accept any specific applicant.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.