Asa Hutchinson: “In 1995 a bounty hunter was chasing a bond jumper in Texas. In Houston, he found a woman he thought to be the bond…”

“In 1995 a bounty hunter was chasing a bond jumper in Texas. In Houston, he found a woman he thought to be the bond jumper and beat her severely. The woman, who was pregnant, miscarried the next day. The key fact was the bounty hunter had the wrong woman. An innocent woman lost her child at the hands of a rogue bounty hunter. The majority of bounty hunters are professionals who do excellent work. Unfortunately, there are a few Dirty Harry wannabes out there as well, and the results can be tragic. I urge my colleagues to support the Citizens Protection Act, a bill which provides an incentive to weed out the rogue bounty hunters and prevent this kind of reckless abuse that resulted in the death of that mother's child. The Citizens Protection Act holds two things: It says that bounty hunters and their employers, bail bondsmen, are accountable for their actions, making them liable for civil rights actions. The second thing it does, it requires bounty hunters who cross State lines in pursuit of a bond jumper to report their intentions to State law enforcement authorities. A bounty hunter's license, Mr. Speaker, should not be a license to terrorize and abuse innocent citizens, and I urge my colleagues to support the Citizens Protection Act.”