2/1/01...0062s

2001 SESSION

01-0398

03/09

SENATE BILL 25

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill:

I. Expands the circumstances under which a police officer may request that a person submit to a preliminary breath test.

II. Permits the admission into evidence of the results of a preliminary breath test to determine whether the officer had probable cause to arrest the person.

III. Eliminates the requirement that a police officer provide a written notice to the person of whom a preliminary breath test is requested.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

2/1/01...0062s

01-0398

03/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

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

44:1 Preliminary Breath Test. Amend RSA 265:92-a, I to read as follows:

I. Any police officer, who has been certified by the police standards and training council according to standards for such certification contained in rules adopted by said council pursuant to RSA 541-A, having reasonable grounds to believe that a person has been driving or operating a vehicle on a way while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or controlled drug or while the person's alcohol concentration was 0.08 or more or in the case of a person under the age of 21, 0.02 or more may, without making an arrest, request that such person submit to a preliminary breath test for alcohol concentration to be administered by the officer. The results of this test [shall not] may be admissible in evidence [by the prosecution, and] for the sole purpose of determining whether the officer had probable cause to arrest the person. Failure to submit to the test shall not constitute a violation of this chapter. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent or require a subsequent test pursuant to RSA 265:84. The police officer requesting the test shall advise orally [and in writing] the person to be tested that his or her failure to take the test or his or her taking of the test shall not be construed to prevent or require a subsequent test pursuant to RSA 265:84. The results of the test shall be furnished immediately [in writing] to the person tested by the police officer administering the test and in writing, if requested.

44:2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2002.

(Approved: June 8, 2001)

(Effective Date: January 1, 2002)