Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. MENEFEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to be very clear about what this bill is. This is part of a greater effort to ensure that we have cash bail systems throughout this country, which would keep rich people on the streets, even if they are violent criminals, and would have poor people locked behind bars because they don't have the money.

Picture two people accused of the same low-level, nonviolent misdemeanor and who come from the same background. A judge looks at both of them and says neither is a flight risk and neither is a threat of harm to the community. The bail is set at $1,500. Because one person can pay the $1,500, they are back on the street. The other person is in jail for 6 months, maybe a year. They lose their apartment. They lose their job. They may even lose custody of their child. That is not justice. That is a tax on people who don't have spare cash.

I know this because we experienced this in Harris County. My home county, Harris County, asked the right question and found the answer. Judges started releasing people accused of nonviolent misdemeanors before trial. Do you know what happened to crime? Absolutely nothing.

Pretrial release went up 30 points, from 50 percent in 2015 to over 80 percent today. Repeat offending did not go up, not even a little.

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Mr. MENEFEE. Mr. Speaker, I was proud to defend that consent decree. Let's be clear about what this is. If somebody is a threat to the community, they should be in jail, regardless of whether they have a billion dollars or a thousand dollars. If they are not a threat to the community, they should not be left to languish in jail, potentially lose their livelihood, their family, all so we can make cash bail companies more rich. We should be about protecting the community, not protecting industry.

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