Sep 30, 2026 · 28 min · 8 segments
In SB 6 and SB 9, the Texas Legislature made major changes to article 17.03 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. On this episode of the Bail Post we begin a new series placing a spotlight on…
Ken W. GoodHost
One of the statutes in Article 17, I think it's 17.04, says that it must meet the requirements of a bail bond except there's no surety or collateral.
I think 1703 of the Code of Crime Procedure dates back to all the way back to 1965.
This section or article went through major changes in SB 6 and then those changes were tweaked again in SB 9.
So, I would like to start with what did this article look like before SB 6 and then how was it changed? So before SB 6, we had a long list of crimes that were listed, and the statute simply said that only the court with jurisdiction to try the case could grant a personal bond for this long list of offenses.
So if you were a large county or if your JPs did the magistration for arrests, then they would not be able to grant a personal bond for those long list of offenses.
And I think the reality was that the majority of the state did not grant personal bonds for most of those offenses anyway.
So he issued Executive Order 13, limiting the use of personal bonds for violent offenses during the pandemic.
And I think it's important to note that there was litigation filed on the propriety of that executive order in both federal court and in state court.
And both the Fifth Circuit and the Texas Supreme Court held that the executive order or the people attacking the order were not proper parties.
The result was the executive order was upheld in both federal court and state court.
And so when we come around to SB 6, since that issue had been litigated and upheld, one of the key components in SB 6 was the limitation of the use of personal bonds for violent offenses.
And so the legislature enacted major changes to 17.03 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
One of the statutes in Article 17, I think it's 17.04, says that it must meet the requirements of a bail bond except there's no surety or collateral.
I think 1703 of the Code of Crime Procedure dates back to all the way back to 1965.
This section or article went through major changes in SB 6 and then those changes were tweaked again in SB 9.
So, I would like to start with what did this article look like before SB 6 and then how was it changed? So before SB 6, we had a long list of crimes that were listed, and the statute simply said that only the court with jurisdiction to try the case could grant a personal bond for this long list of offenses.
So if you were a large county or if your JPs did the magistration for arrests, then they would not be able to grant a personal bond for those long list of offenses.
And I think the reality was that the majority of the state did not grant personal bonds for most of those offenses anyway.
So he issued Executive Order 13, limiting the use of personal bonds for violent offenses during the pandemic.
And I think it's important to note that there was litigation filed on the propriety of that executive order in both federal court and in state court.
And both the Fifth Circuit and the Texas Supreme Court held that the executive order or the people attacking the order were not proper parties.
The result was the executive order was upheld in both federal court and state court.
And so when we come around to SB 6, since that issue had been litigated and upheld, one of the key components in SB 6 was the limitation of the use of personal bonds for violent offenses.
And so the legislature enacted major changes to 17.03 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
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