NCBAA 2026 Annual Conference: A Powerful Vision for the Future of Professional Bail
Unity, legislative muscle, and judicial insight define North Carolina's premier bail event
The North Carolina Bail Agents Association (NCBAA) just wrapped up a highly successful 2026 Annual Conference at the Courtyard by Marriott Carolina Beach Oceanfront. This year's event was a masterclass in industry unity, active legislative engagement, and building relationships that strengthen the profession — and it built directly on the momentum coming out of the PBUS Winter Conference, where state associations, bail agents, surety partners, and industry supporters began showing up for one another in a way that has been impossible to miss ever since.
Community & A High-Energy Kickoff
The energy was immediate. Attendees arrived to an expansive exhibitor hall, a huge selection of new NCBAA merchandise, and an incredible lineup of sponsors who make advocacy possible. The first evening set the tone with an informal networking gathering topped off by a surprise fireworks show over Carolina Beach. That gathering also gave local bail agents a chance to meet and visit with PBUS members who had traveled in from across the country — a reminder that this profession is stronger when agents and associations cross state lines to support one another.
Leadership That Demands Participation
NCBAA President Julie Henderson opened the sessions by setting a clear standard: participation is expected. She doesn't stand at the front of the room and talk at people — she asks questions, calls on the experience in the room, and keeps pushing until someone answers. That approach matters more than it might seem, because Henderson still writes bail bonds every day. Her leadership connects directly with the working agents in the room because she is living the same day-to-day challenges they are.
Judicial & Legislative Heavy Hitters
The speaker lineup delivered unmatched insight into the legal and administrative machinery of North Carolina's justice system:
- Justice Phil Berger Jr. (NC Supreme Court) opened the speaker sessions by contrasting the private accountability of professional surety bail against the ongoing taxpayer burden of funding government-operated pretrial release programs — staffing, supervision, administration, technology, compliance, all publicly funded and ongoing. Coming from someone who has served as a prosecutor, a District Attorney, an appellate judge, and now a Supreme Court Justice, the distinction landed with weight: pretrial release conversations need to include not just appearance and accountability, but who ultimately foots the bill.
- Jarret Burr, NCBAA's lobbyist, delivered a critical update from the Capitol on the association's legislative agenda and the ongoing work at the NC General Assembly to protect the profession — the kind of representation that gives NCBAA members a real voice when decisions affecting their businesses are being made.
- Jess H. Hill, Columbus County Clerk of Superior Court, brought both institutional and personal weight to the discussion. A Columbus County native, Hill has served as Clerk since 2014, previously worked as a magistrate, and was admitted to the NC State Bar in 2005 after earning his law degree from the University of South Carolina. He currently leads the NC Conference of Clerks of Superior Court as President and has been a driving force behind the state's eCourts transition. Hill serves directly on Chief Justice Paul Newby's Pretrial Release Task Force alongside co-chair Justice Berger.
- Tara M. Honesty, President of the North Carolina Magistrates Association and a magistrate in Edgecombe County with more than a decade on the front lines of the judicial system, and Ashlyn Harris, a Cleveland County magistrate with nearly 17 years of service dating back to 2009, both offered a working magistrate's view of pretrial release. Harris came to the bench after time with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and as a 911 dispatcher, and both she and Hill serve directly on the Newby task force — putting agents in the room with the people who set and execute the conditions that determine whether a defendant stays in custody or gets released.
- An Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) panel featuring Joseph A. Kyzer (Deputy Director of the AOC since 2023, formerly Assistant Legal Counsel and Legislative Liaison for the AOC and Communications Director for the NC House Speaker's Office), Curnisha Jones, and Kyle A. Berrier (a former NC Department of Revenue accountant and local historian) broke down the operational policies, technology, and eCourts transitions impacting local jurisdictions statewide.
A Unified National Agenda
NCBAA's momentum isn't happening in a vacuum. Four state bail association presidents, alongside PBUS representatives and President David Stuckman, traveled to North Carolina to align on a shared national agenda. Under Stuckman's leadership, PBUS has brought together some of the sharpest and most experienced minds in bail to rewrite what a national association can accomplish — and attendees heard discussions many said they'd never heard at a bail conference before. Different states, different laws, different problems — but the people doing this work have far more in common than they sometimes realize.
The event concluded with an elegant evening gala, celebrating the agents, sponsors, and leaders driving the NCBAA forward. No titles, just assignments and results — one state at a time.
