Pima County supervisors voted on Tuesday to support an amendment to the Arizona Constitution that aims to ban “cash bail” statewide, a practice that proponents of the legislation said is ineffective and a drain on taxpayer dollars.
The amendment, which is proposed in a new state law called House Concurrent Resolution 2022, was introduced by a bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers earlier this year.
It would require judges to release most nonviolent offenders ahead of their trial, while preventing certain people — like those who have been arrested on suspicion of murder — from being able to bail their way out of jail, something that’s possible under the state’s current cash system.
“The ability to buy one’s way out of jail after committing those crimes will essentially be curtailed,” said Amelia Cramer, who is chair of the Criminal Justice Committee of the NAACP Tucson branch, which has been advocating for the new law. “That is the most important aspect of the constitutional amendment.”
Cramer, a former prosecutor in the Pima County Attorney’s Office, cited the killing of DEA agent Mike Garbo as an example of the system’s shortcomings. Garbo was shot in a train stopped in Tucson last year by a man who previously posted bail after being arrested on weapons charges.
In contrast, the NAACP representative also shared the story of a homeless woman who was locked up for 45 days after stealing a candy bar because she couldn’t afford her $250 bail payment.
“As these two cases well illustrate, things are sometimes exactly backwards in terms of the way the money bail system operates,” Cramer said. “It fails to protect public safety, punishes poverty and it disproportionately negatively impacts people of color.”
Local officials also have a financial incentive to back the change: National figures suggest jailing low-level offenders could cost the county tens of millions of dollars each year.
Supervisor Rex Scott said the board has “always been supportive of the cause of eliminating cash bail,” and that Tuesday’s vote means Arizona’s second largest county will now devote lobbying resources to the initiative during this year’s legislative session.
The only vote against the measure came from Supervisor Steve Christy. He expressed concern that the law would conflict with the county’s existing Community Bond Program, which provides bail payments for those who can’t afford it.
“I’m concerned that there is going to be dual and competing bond programs with this and what we already have in place,” Christy said. “I’d like to know what’s going to happen to the one we already have.”
The new law would make the county’s program obsolete by eliminating the need for bail payments entirely, freeing up public funds that can be spent elsewhere.
On top of that, Cramer said the new law will be more effective and described the Community Bond Program as a workaround that’s failing to address the underlying problems.
“The community bond program is a band-aid and we’re bleeding out with the cash bail system,” Cramer said. “We won’t need it anymore once we fix the injury.”
Lawmakers are expected to debate the new resolution in the coming months. If it survives the Legislature, it is expected to go to the ballot for voter approval.
