NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – State lawmakers are taking action to change the way bonding and ankle monitoring companies operate. It all comes after a young Mississippi woman was allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Bricen Rivers.

Rivers was in a Davidson County jail until a series of failures led to Lauren Johansen’s murder.

Earlier this year, Nakeda Wilhoite with Freedom Monitoring appeared in front of a Davidson County criminal court judges. Her company put an ankle monitor on Bricen Rivers with no restrictions when she should have. Wilhoite is also a bonding agent for Brooke’s Bonding. A ruling by the judges after her appearance said working as an agent and monitoring company is a conflict of interest.

Tuesday, state senators with the Bail Task Force heard from industry experts.

“We can flesh out some findings from the courts,” said Senator Raumesh Akbari (D- Memphis). “That helps us get to a better place when we look at potential legislation.”

She also added her primary concern was a person in Tennessee operating a monitoring company and a bail bonding company.

“Are there best practices that we could use so that incidents like this don’t happen?” Senator Akbari questioned.

The senators pointed out being a bail agent and monitoring defendants seems to be a personal money grab and doesn’t have the publics best interest in mind.

“The inherent conflict of interest right there between monitoring to make sure they show up and monitoring to save someone’s life because they violated bond conditions that were there and put there for hat very purpose and was the intent of this body right here, was public safety,” said Senator John Stevens (R-Huntingdon).

Senators also talked about who should oversee monitoring companies. Currently, there are no laws in place. Some experts who testified suggest local control.

“I think at that point where you say, ‘judges are the appropriate person to monitor this,’ I strongly disagree because they already have a hard enough time monitoring bonding agencies,” said Senator Stevens.

Electronic signatures, states with no bail, and streamlining local rules were also brought up. However, Tuesday’s meeting was only the first step toward a very long road of law changes.

No votes or decisions were made. Senators also said there will not be on comprehensive bill to fix every court finding in the Rivers case.

The senators said they will write a report for Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally at the end of January.