What is not uniform: the bail schedule
California Penal Code §1269b requires the judges of each county's superior court to prepare, adopt, and annually revise a uniform countywide bail schedule for felonies and for misdemeanor and infraction offenses. 'Uniform' in that statute means uniform within the county — not across the state.
- Los Angeles County publishes its own felony and misdemeanor schedules each year.
- San Diego County publishes its own, with different amounts for some of the same code sections.
- Enhancements, priors, and multiple counts stack on top of the base number.
- The schedule is only the starting point. At arraignment a judge can raise it, lower it, or replace it with release conditions.
Why the amounts diverge
Each bench sets its schedule against local caseloads, jail capacity, and local sentencing patterns. There is no state authority that harmonizes the numbers. In re Humphrey (2021) added a constitutional layer on top: a court must consider ability to pay and non-financial conditions before setting an amount that results in detention, which means the schedule number is increasingly a presumption rather than a destination.
What this means practically
- Look up the schedule for the county of arrest, not the county of residence.
- An out-of-county warrant carries the issuing county's amount — see posting bail on an out-of-county warrant.
- Do not compare your number to a friend's from another county and assume an error.
- Ask what the arraignment court typically does with that charge locally. That is where an experienced local agent is worth more than a call center.
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