SB 0116

This bill creates a class B felony offense for vehicular manslaughter and a class A misdemeanor offense for aggravated vehicular assault.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.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

630:2-a Vehicular Manslaughter. A person shall be guilty of a class B felony for vehicular manslaughter where such person, while engaged in the violation of any state statute applying to the operation of a motor vehicle as defined in RSA 259:60 or the operation of a vessel as defined in RSA 270-D:1, XI, negligently causes the death of another. A person convicted under this section shall be subject to a maximum sentence not to exceed 5 years, or, notwithstanding RSA 651:2, IV, a fine not to exceed $10,000, or both.

2 New Section; Assault; Aggravated Vehicular Assault. Amend RSA 631 by inserting after section 3-a the following new section:

631:3-b Aggravated Vehicular Assault. A person shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor for aggravated vehicular assault where such person, while engaged in the violation of any state statute applying to the operation of a motor vehicle as defined in RSA 259:60 or the operation of a vessel as defined in RSA 270-D:1, XI, negligently causes serious bodily injury to another.

The Administrative Office of the Courts stated the fiscal impact of this bill relative to motor vehicle offenses which result in the death or serious bodily injury of another will be insignificant.

The Judicial Council stated this bill expands the existing manslaughter law by establishing a new felony B level offense for vehicular manslaughter. The language in this bill is extremely broad in that it includes any violation of the laws relating to the operation of vehicles or vessels where there is a negligent cause of death. There are many laws which could be violated in conjunction with a negligent homicide case as defined by this bill. The bill further provides for the establishment of a new misdemeanor A for aggravated vehicular assault, where such person while engaged in the violation of any state law relating to either a motor vehicle or a vessel negligently causes serious bodily injury. This produces an impact on more felony cases on the indigent defense caseload. For purposes of determining the fiscal impact, it is assumed that any cases arising from the enactment of this law for which the Indigent Defense Fund may be liable, will, in the first instance be handled by the public defender or contract attorneys who accept these cases on a fixed fee basis of $250 for the misdemeanor and $687.50 for each felony charge. If an assigned counsel attorney must be used, the hourly rate of $60 with a fee cap of $1,000 for each misdemeanor and $3,000 for felony cases will apply. If a motion to exceed the fee cap is approved and/or "services other than counsel" are approved, these will also be chargeable to the Indigent Defense Fund. The Council is unable to predict the number of cases or trials which may arise as a result of the passage of this legislation, therefor, they are unable to estimate the dollar amount of the anticipated costs of such representation.

The Department of Corrections is unable to predict how many, if any, individuals would be incarcerated as result of this legislation. The average cost of incarceration for FY 2000 was $20,557 per inmate. The average cost of probation/parole supervision was $840 per inmate. Additionally, it is unknown how many individuals will be incarcerated in county facilities therefor, the cost to the counties cannot be determined.

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