Louisiana bill looks to set mandatory bail minimums

BATON ROUGE, La. (KALB) - A bill moves through the legislature to set mandatory minimum bail amounts for people arrested in Louisiana.

House Bill 498 would set a mandatory $50,000 bail amount for arrestees charged with a violent offense without a firearm and $100,000 bail for violent offenses with a firearm.

Opponents say the bill discriminates based on income. That a wealthy person accused of murder could easily post a bail amount of $100,000, while a suspect living in poverty could not do the same when charged with a crime like purse snatching, which is included in this bill.

The bill would also require that if judges make exceptions to this rule, they would have to physically write the reasons for those exceptions.

The bill advanced in a 7-4 vote in the House Criminal Justice Committee and now moves to the full House floor for a vote.

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