HB146: relative to criminal penalties for child pornography offenses.

HB 146-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2003 SESSION

03-0177

04/09

HOUSE BILL 146-FN

AN ACT relative to criminal penalties for child pornography offenses.

SPONSORS: Rep. Holland, Rock 76; Rep. Weyler, Rock 79; Sen. Morse, Dist 22

COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety

ANALYSIS

This bill provides for minimum sentences for conviction of certain child pornography offenses and requires the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentences for such offenses.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

03-0177

04/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three

AN ACT relative to criminal penalties for child pornography offenses.

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

1 Child Pornography; Criminal Penalties. Amend RSA 649-A:3, II to read as follows:

II. [An] A person convicted of an offense under paragraph I shall be:

(a) [A] Guilty of a class B felony if such person has had no prior convictions in this state or another state for the conduct prohibited by paragraph I[;] and such person shall be incarcerated for not less than one year.

(b) [A] Guilty of a class A felony if such person has had one or more prior convictions in this state or another state for the conduct prohibited by paragraph I and such person shall be incarcerated for not less than 5 years.

2 New Paragraph; Child Pornography; Criminal Penalties. Amend RSA 649-A:3 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:

III. Notwithstanding RSA 651:20, no portion of the minimum sentence required under subparagraph II(a) or II(b) shall be suspended.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2004.

LBAO

03-0177

12/23/02

HB 146-FN - FISCAL NOTE

AN ACT relative to criminal penalties for child pornography offenses.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The Judicial Branch and Judicial Council state this bill may increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2004 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures or state, county and local revenues.

METHODOLOGY:

The Judicial Branch states this bill provides for minimum mandatory sentences for convictions of certain child pornography offenses. On the assumption that this statutory change would not increase the number of child pornography prosecutions, one would conclude on the surface that there would be no fiscal impact of this change on the Branch. Bills creating minimum mandatory sentences generally limit the ability of the State and the defendant to enter into a plea bargain, resulting in more cases going to jury trials. To the extent that the minimum mandatory sentence results in more jury trials, there will be an indeterminable fiscal impact on the Judicial Branch.

The Judicial Council states this bill provides for minimum sentences for conviction of certain child pornography offenses and requires the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence for such offenses. Mandatory minimum sentence cases generally require more time to handle, thus increasing costs. For the purpose 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 $687.50 for each felony charge. If an assigned counsel attorney must be used, the hourly rate of $60 with a fee cap of $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 states the courts will not grant early release to persons sentenced under this bill. The Department currently has two inmates doing time for child LBAO

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pornography possession and it is anticipated they will serve at least their minimum sentence. One inmate sentenced for possession of child pornography had three concurrent two to six year sentences, and served the full minimum before release. The Department estimates this bill will have no fiscal impact on their department.

The Department of Justice states this bill will have no fiscal impact on their department.