0307-hb 1621

AN ACT allowing administrative home confinement for habitual offenders.

SPONSORS: Rep. Lozeau, Hills 30; Rep. Knowles, Straf 11; Rep. Tholl, Coos 5; Sen. Hollingworth, Dist 23

This bill provides for home confinement, with certain criteria to be met, as a means to serve habitual offender sentences and certain discretionary sentences.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

307:1 Habitual Offenders; Penalties; Home Confinement. Amend RSA 262:23, I to read as follows:

I. It shall be unlawful for any person to drive any motor vehicle on the ways of this state while an order of the director or the court prohibiting such driving remains in effect. If any person found to be an habitual offender under the provisions of this chapter is convicted of driving a motor vehicle on the ways of this state while an order of the director or the court prohibiting such operation is in effect, he or she shall be guilty of a felony and sentenced, notwithstanding the provisions of RSA title LXII, to imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than 5 years. No portion of the minimum mandatory sentence shall be suspended, and no case brought to enforce this chapter shall be continued for sentencing; provided, however, that any sentence or part thereof imposed pursuant to this section may be suspended in cases in which the driving of a motor vehicle was necessitated by situations of apparent extreme emergency which required such operation to save life or limb. Any sentence of one year or less imposed pursuant to this paragraph shall be served in a county correctional facility and the court may order that any such offender may serve his or her sentence under home confinement pursuant to RSA 651:19 on such terms and conditions as the court may order, for the minimum mandatory term or any portion thereof, provided the offender first serves 8 consecutive weekends or 14 consecutive days of imprisonment prior to eligibility for home confinement. Habitual offenders shall only be eligible for the home confinement sentencing option once per lifetime. Any sentence of more than one year imposed pursuant to this paragraph shall be served in the state prison.

307:2 Habitual Offender; Misdemeanor Penalties. Amend RSA 262:23, III to read as follows:

III. Notwithstanding paragraph I, any person who qualifies under RSA 259:39, who does not have a conviction under RSA 265:82 or any misdemeanor or felony motor vehicle convictions pursuant to RSA title XXI, shall not be subject to the minimum mandatory provisions of paragraph I; provided, however, that any such person shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor and may be sentenced to one year or less. Any person incarcerated upon the effective date of this paragraph, pursuant to certification as an habitual offender under RSA 259:39, who does not have a conviction under RSA 265:82 or any misdemeanor or felony motor vehicle convictions pursuant to RSA title XXI, may apply immediately to the superior court for sentence review and reduction.

307:3 Discretionary Sentences; Release for Purpose of Gainful Employment or Rehabilitation; Home Confinement. Amend RSA 651:19 to read as follows:

651:19 Release for Purpose of Gainful Employment [or], Rehabilitation or Home Confinement. Any person who has been committed to a penal institution other than state prison under a criminal sentence may be released therefrom by the sentencing court at the time of sentence or at any time during the term of sentence, for the purpose of obtaining and working at gainful employment, for the performance of uncompensated public service as provided in RSA 651:68-70, or to serve the sentence under home confinement, provided the offender first serves 8 consecutive weekends or 14 consecutive days prior to eligibility for home confinement, or for such other purpose as the court may deem conducive to his or her rehabilitation, for such times or intervals of time and under such terms and conditions as the court may order. Any part of a day spent in the free community, or in home confinement, under such a release order shall be counted as a full day toward the serving of the sentence unless otherwise provided by the court. If a person violates the terms and conditions laid down for his or her conduct, custody and employment, he or she shall be returned to the sentencing court. The court may then require that the balance of the person's sentence be spent in actual confinement and may cancel any earned reduction of his or her term.

The Department of Corrections has stated that this bill will increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2001 and each year thereafter. There may be an indeterminable fiscal impact on county expenditures in FY2001 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on local expenditures or state, county and local revenue.

The Administrative Office of the Courts stated this bill allows administrative home confinement for habitual offenders, and does not anticipate that this bill will have any fiscal impact on the Judicial Branch.

The Judicial Council stated this bill would have no new impact on the indigent defense fund.

The Department of Corrections stated that there would be an indeterminable fiscal impact in FY 2001 and each year thereafter if the court ordered administrative home confinement under supervision of probation/parole officers. In FY 1999, the average cost of such supervision was $842 per inmate. Sentences under one year are served in county institutions. The fiscal impact on counties cannot be determined since it is not possible to accurately predict the number of court orders for home confinement that will result from this legislation, as opposed to sentences in county institutions.

The Department of Justice stated this bill would have no fiscal impact on the Department.