Alabama § 15-13-217 - Examination; Continuing Education; Certification; Costs and Fees; Inactive Licenses.

§ 15-13-217. Examination; Continuing Education; Certification; Costs and Fees; Inactive Licenses.

(a) A professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, or recovery agent commencing business in any judicial circuit in this state on and after June 1, 2020, shall attend a 16-hour instructional course conducted by an educational provider approved by the board and pass an examination approved by the board and administered by an educational provider approved by the board. Upon completion of the course and passage of the examination, the individual shall be awarded a pre-license examination certificate by the board, copies of which may be submitted to the presiding circuit judge or other judicial authority, along with the other requirements set forth in Section 15-13-159 or Section 15-13-160. Those professional bondsmen, professional surety bondsmen, and recovery agents doing business immediately prior to June 1, 2020, are exempt from the initial instructional course and examination.

(b) Unless exempted pursuant to subsection (i), a professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, or recovery agent making an annual filing in any circuit in this state pursuant to Section 15-13-159 or Section 15-13-160 on and after March 1, 2020, shall first complete eight hours of continuing education conducted by an educational provider approved by the board. A professional bail company owner who is at least 55 years of age and has five years of experience in the profession shall only be required to complete four hours of continuing education. The educational provider approved by the board shall provide the board with the name of all professional bondsmen, professional surety bondsmen, or recovery agents completing eight hours of continuing education. Upon completion of the eight hours of continuing education, the individual shall request issuance of an annual continuing education certificate from the board, copies of which may be submitted to the presiding circuit judge along with the other requirements set forth in Section 15-13-159 or Section 15-13-160.

(c) The instructional course, examination, and continuing education courses shall be taught or sponsored by an educational provider approved by the board, which must apply annually for authority to offer such examination or courses.

(d) A list of approved course providers shall be published on the website of the board.

(e) The cost of the instructional course shall be set by the approved course provider but shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per course. Upon completion of the instructional course, the approved course provider shall issue an instructional course completion certificate in a form approved by the board. This completion certificate, along with the application fee, must be presented to the board in order to take the pre-license examination. An instructional course completion certificate shall be valid for a period of 12 months.

(f) The cost of continuing education courses shall be set by the approved course provider but shall not exceed seventy-five dollars ($75) per hour. Any fee required to be paid by a course provider for reporting continuing education course completion to the board may be added to the maximum charges provided in this subsection.

(g) Each professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, and recovery agent must renew his or her certification with the board by completing eight hours of approved continuing education prior to September 30 each year. Late renewal within the next 12 months may be accomplished by completing the eight hours of continuing education and paying a renewal license fee of twice the amount otherwise required. If a professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, or recovery agent fails to renew a certification for a 12-month period, the professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, or recovery agent must take the instructional course and examination to again become certified.

(h) The board, by rule, shall set the fees to be paid to the board in the administration of this section, not to exceed the maximum amounts set forth below:

(1)a. Application fee for a professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, or a recovery agent, a nonrefundable fee to be paid to take the examination and for the issuance of the pre-license examination certificate, per examination attempt: Up to five hundred dollars ($500).

b. Application fee for a professional bail company or a professional surety company, a nonrefundable fee to be paid for the issuance of an initial license: Up to five hundred dollars ($500). Payment of this fee does not alleviate the requirement that each individual professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, and recovery agent be licensed under this chapter.

(2)a. Annual license renewal fee for a professional bondsman, professional surety bondsman, or recovery agent, to be paid to receive the annual continuing education certificate: From fifty dollars ($50) up to five hundred dollars ($500).

b. Annual license renewal fee for a professional bail company or a professional surety company, to be paid to receive the renewal license: Up to one hundred dollars ($100).

(3) A late fee to be charged for any late license renewal. The late fee shall be equal to the amount of the license renewal fee.

(4) Renewal of an inactive license: Up to one hundred dollars ($100). The renewal is subject to the following requirements:

a. A licensee may place his or her license into inactive status at anytime and renew the inactive license during the renewal period.

b. Failure to renew an inactive license shall result in a late fee added to the license renewal fee equal to the amount of the license renewal fee.

c. The licensee may revert to active status once he or she pays for an active license, passes a background check, and completes the continuing education requirements.

(i) Any professional bondsman or professional bail company owner who, on August 1, 2021, is at least 65 years of age and has 15 years of experience in the profession, shall be exempt from the continuing education requirements of this article.

(j) The board shall adopt rules necessary to carry out this section.