Badges? Bail bondsmen will need (stinkin’) badges?

If you don’t understand the headline here, go rent “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” with Humphrey Bogart tonight.

The state Senate just put an item on its consent calendar that would raise the requirements and standards for bail bondsmen. You know, the people who put up the cash and spring you from the slammer after that ill-timed DUI; that unfortunate domestic assault; the unlucky white collar crime; that stolen car you just happen to be caught with. Anyway, under this bill, which heads to the House, bail bondsmen or agents would have to have high school diplomas and be at least 21 years old. The legislation includes provisions for revoking and suspending their licenses in cases of bail bondsmen who are subject to restraining orders. Also, the commissioner of the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, would be tasked with creating a shiny badge for bail bondsmen.