COURTS Magistrate Courts: Provide for an Optional No Contest Bond Forfeiture Procedure for Misdemeanor Bad Check Violations as a Final Disposition and Provide for Bench Warrants When Forfeiture Is Not Final Disposition

The Act provides that chief magistrates may establish no contest cash bond schedules, allows persons arrested or accused of misdemeanor bad check violations to post a no contest cash bond, and deems failure to appear for trial to be a guilty plea and forfeiture of the bond, unless the court provides otherwise. When the court rejects the guilty plea and forfeiture, the Act instructs the court to issue a bench warrant for the defendant's arrest for subsequent default.