Federal lawsuit challenges Georgia law that limits many people or groups to posting 3 bonds a year

A new federal lawsuit challenges a Georgia law that expands cash bail and restricts organizations that help people pay bail so they can be released while their criminal cases are pending. Brian Kemp and which takes effect July 1, includes a section that limits people and organizations from posting more than three cash bonds in a year unless they meet requirements for bail bond companies. They represent Barred Business Foundation, an Atlanta-based nonprofit whose activities include facilitating campaigns to pay cash bail, and two people who live in Athens and run a charitable bail fund in association with their church. The lawsuit says the law “imposes what are arguably the most severe restrictions on charitable bail funds in the nation” and says the imposition of those restrictions on charitable bail funds is “incredibly burdensome — perhaps insurmountable — and is both irrational and arbitrary.” It asserts that if the law is allowed to take effect, “these restrictions will effectively eliminate charitable bail funds in Georgia.” Earlier this month, the Bail Project, a national nonprofit that helps thousands of low-income people post bond, announced that it had closed its Atlanta branch because of the new law.