republic-os/legislation/us/states/al/2023rs/sb-213.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993; to amend Sections 15-13-107, 15-13-111, 15-13-114, 15-13-118, 15-13-125, 15-13-128, 15-13-131, 15-13-132, 15-13-134, 15-13-136, 15-13-137, 15-13-138, 15-13-139, 15-13-140, 15-13-141, 15-13-145, 15-13-159, 15-13-160, and 15-13-164, Code of Alabama 1975, to provide for the acceptance of certain filing fees by the sheriff or jailer; to further define cash bail and property bail; to provide further for the arrest and delivery of a defendant to jail by a surety with no court costs to be entered on the surety; to provide that a surety not be charged for a bondsman's process or for a certified copy of a bond; to require the license number of the bondsman or recovery on a bondsman's process form; to allow a surety to sign for a forfeiture with the clerk of the ordering court; to increase the time frame for which the ordering court has jurisdiction over a forfeiture action; to authorize a bail bondsman to file motions, answers, and notices relating to a defendant who is out on bond with that bondsman; to increase the time frames for providing notice and conducting hearings in conditional forfeiture proceedings; to remove the requirement that a conditional judgment to set aside be made absolute for the entire sum; to provide further for instances when a court may set aside forfeiture and may not release a defendant on judicial public bail; to provide further for eligibility for judicial public bail; to provide further for the amount of new corporate surety bonds and escrow agreements required in counties with populations of 200,000 or more; to provide further for criminal penalties for certain unlawful behavior; to make nonsubstantive, technical revisions to update the existing code language to current style; and in connection therewith would have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of Section 111.05 of the Constitution of Alabama of 2022."
description: "Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993, cash bail and property bail defined and provided for, time frame for forfeiture action extended"
jurisdiction: "us/states/al"
legislature: "Alabama Legislature"
session: "2023rs"
identifier: "SB 213"
citation: "Alabama SB 213 (2023rs)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["David Sessions"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 23
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-04-18T04:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2023-06-14T13:30:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d56b4b29-6d03-4955-aeb9-78c0f7b0969e"
source_url: "https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/bill-search"
source_hash: "ebfab7e0e969ddf7d607c4c28cfcc45fe8f3b069e85c69883c146f17b97bba05"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-al"]
---

# Alabama SB 213 (2023rs) — Relating to the Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993; to amend Sections 15-13-107, 15-13-111, 15-13-114, 15-13-118, 15-13-125, 15-13-128, 15-13-131, 15-13-132, 15-13-134, 15-13-136, 15-13-137, 15-13-138, 15-13-139, 15-13-140, 15-13-141, 15-13-145, 15-13-159, 15-13-160, and 15-13-164, Code of Alabama 1975, to provide for the acceptance of certain filing fees by the sheriff or jailer; to further define cash bail and property bail; to provide further for the arrest and delivery of a defendant to jail by a surety with no court costs to be entered on the surety; to provide that a surety not be charged for a bondsman's process or for a certified copy of a bond; to require the license number of the bondsman or recovery on a bondsman's process form; to allow a surety to sign for a forfeiture with the clerk of the ordering court; to increase the time frame for which the ordering court has jurisdiction over a forfeiture action; to authorize a bail bondsman to file motions, answers, and notices relating to a defendant who is out on bond with that bondsman; to increase the time frames for providing notice and conducting hearings in conditional forfeiture proceedings; to remove the requirement that a conditional judgment to set aside be made absolute for the entire sum; to provide further for instances when a court may set aside forfeiture and may not release a defendant on judicial public bail; to provide further for eligibility for judicial public bail; to provide further for the amount of new corporate surety bonds and escrow agreements required in counties with populations of 200,000 or more; to provide further for criminal penalties for certain unlawful behavior; to make nonsubstantive, technical revisions to update the existing code language to current style; and in connection therewith would have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of Section 111.05 of the Constitution of Alabama of 2022.

Alabama Bail Reform Act of 1993, cash bail and property bail defined and provided for, time frame for forfeiture action extended

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/SB213-int.pdf)
2. **Act 2023-476** (committee substitute) — [source](http://arc-sos.state.al.us/ucp/L1285172.AI1.pdf)
3. **Amendment 0EIOCC-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/0EIOCC-1.pdf)
4. **Amendment HHXF63-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/HHXF63-1.pdf)
5. **Amendment IYK56W-1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/IYK56W-1.pdf)
6. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/SB213-eng.pdf)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://www.legislature.state.al.us/pdf/SearchableInstruments/2023RS/SB213-enr.pdf)

## Votes

- Roll of the S for Vote 1006 on SB213 (2023 Regular Session) — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Roll of the S for Vote 1004 on SB213 (2023 Regular Session) — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Roll of the S for Vote 1289 on SB213 (2023 Regular Session) — **30–0** (pass) · upper
- Roll of the S for Vote 1005 on SB213 (2023 Regular Session) — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Roll of the H for Vote 1159 on SB213 (2023 Regular Session) — **101–0** (pass) · lower
- Roll of the H for Vote 1160 on SB213 (2023 Regular Session) — **103–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- David Sessions — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-06-07T04:00:00+00:00** Enrolled
- **2023-06-06T04:00:00+00:00** Concur In and Adopt
- **2023-06-06T04:00:00+00:00** Read a Third Time and Pass as Amended `passage`
- **2023-06-06T04:00:00+00:00** Adopt
- **2023-06-06T04:00:00+00:00** On Third Reading in Second House
- **2023-05-31T04:00:00+00:00** Read Second Time in Second House
- **2023-05-31T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Out of Committee in Second House
- **2023-05-31T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Favorably (Judiciary) `committee-passage`
- **2023-05-31T04:00:00+00:00** AMD/SUB (Judiciary)
- **2023-05-25T04:00:00+00:00** Referred to Committee (Judiciary) `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-25T04:00:00+00:00** Read First Time in Second House `reading-1`
- **2023-05-24T04:00:00+00:00** Read A Third Time And Passed As Amended
- **2023-05-24T04:00:00+00:00** Adopt
- **2023-05-24T04:00:00+00:00** Adopt
- **2023-05-24T04:00:00+00:00** On Third Reading in House of Origin
- **2023-05-03T04:00:00+00:00** Read Second Time in House of Origin
- **2023-05-03T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Out of Committee in House of Origin
- **2023-05-03T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Favorably (Banking and Insurance) `committee-passage`
- **2023-05-03T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Out of Committee in House of Origin
- **2023-05-03T04:00:00+00:00** Reported Favorably (Banking and Insurance) `committee-passage`
- **2023-04-18T04:00:00+00:00** Introduced and Referred (Banking and Insurance) `introduction, referral`
- **2023-04-18T04:00:00+00:00** Read First Time in House of Origin `reading-1`
- **2023-06-14T13:30:00+00:00** Enacted as 2023-476 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d56b4b29-6d03-4955-aeb9-78c0f7b0969e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Alabama legislature records).