The California Bail Agent license
Bail Agent
Solicits, negotiates and effects undertakings of bail on behalf of a surety insurer. It is one of the two California licenses AB 943 did not touch.
Course
60 hrs
The shortest single course route.
Ways in
1
It requires the state exam.
Exam
Varies
Priced per paper. The prices are below.
Every way to qualify
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Route 1 Take the 20-hour bail course and the 40-hour power of arrest course
State exam required
Bail prelicensing study
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20 hours of approved prelicensing classroom study in the duties and responsibilities of a bail licensee, including the laws and regulations related to them, the rights of the accused, and ethics, approved by the Department. 20 of those hours cannot be taken at your own pace, so a fully self-paced online course does not satisfy this on its own. The route's own note says which live formats the state accepts
and power of arrest
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40 hours of power of arrest course certified by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training under Penal Code section 832
The Department writes classroom, and a fully self-paced online course does not satisfy the twenty hours on its own. The forty-hour power of arrest course is certified by POST rather than approved by the Department, so a bail applicant is buying from two different registers.
Read at the Department on 2026-08-14
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A course is required and nobody sells one
There is nothing a national seller can sell. California's own register holds 17 approved bail courses and every one of them is Contact delivery, the register's word for classroom or live webinar, taught on named dates in Riverside, Glendale and Roseville by the Bail Resource Center and the Bail Education Association. Twenty hours in a room in California is not a product a national seller can put online.