HB 1185-FN - AS INTRODUCED
2001 SESSION
04/09
HOUSE BILL 1185-FN
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
This bill creates a class A misdemeanor for the possession of certain deadly weapons in a safe school zone, and creates an exception for law enforcement personnel and other persons authorized by the school.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
01-2054
04/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One
AN ACT relative to the possession of deadly weapons in a safe school zone.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Safe School Zones; Deadly Weapons Prohibited. Amend RSA 193-D:3 to read as follows:
193-D:3 Criminal Penalties.
I. Any person convicted of an act of theft, destruction, or violence as defined in RSA 193-D:1 committed in a safe school zone at any time of year may be subject to an extended term of imprisonment as provided in RSA 651:6.
II. Any person in possession of a deadly weapon as defined in RSA 625:11, V while in a safe school zone at any time of the year shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor. Law enforcement personnel engaged in the conduct of their official duties, and persons authorized by the school principal shall be exempt from this paragraph.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2003.
LBAO
01-2054
8/2/01
HB 1185-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to the possession of deadly weapons in a safe school zone.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Judicial Council states this bill will increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2002 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state, county, and local revenue or county and local expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Council states it is difficult to predict what the effect of the enhanced criminal penalty might have on the time associated with the representation of the enhanced school zone misdemeanor. The time spent on these cases will have a direct financial impact for assigned counsel cases. The enhanced penalty will also require more vigorous defense, and in the situations, more time spent on these cases often results in the overall reduced capacity of either backup program to handle more new cases. This leads to more cases being handled by the assigned counsel. 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 per misdemeanor. If an assigned counsel attorney must be used, the hourly rate of $60 with a fee cap of $1,000 for each misdemeanor case 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 that may result from the enactment of this proposed bill, therefore, they are unable to estimate the dollar amount of the anticipated costs for such representation.
The Department of Justice states any increase as a result of this bill could be handled within their existing appropriations.
The Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Corrections state this bill will have no fiscal impact on their departments.