HB1000: establishing a state grant program to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in addressing the opioid crisis and making an appropriation therefor.

CHAPTER 277

HB 1000-FN-A - FINAL VERSION

2016 SESSION

16-2996

09/10

HOUSE BILL 1000-FN-A

AN ACT establishing a state grant program to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in addressing the opioid crisis and making an appropriation therefor.

SPONSORS: Rep. Hinch, Hills. 21; Rep. Shurtleff, Merr. 11; Rep. Umberger, Carr. 2; Sen. Bradley, Dist 3; Sen. Woodburn, Dist 1

COMMITTEE: [committee]

ANALYSIS

This bill requires the commissioner of safety to establish a substance abuse enforcement program within the department of safety, division of state police, to assist state, county, and local law enforcement agencies in addressing the opioid crisis. The bill makes an appropriation for the program.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

16-2996

09/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Sixteen

AN ACT establishing a state grant program to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in addressing the opioid crisis and making an appropriation therefor.

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

277:1 Legislative Findings. The legislature finds that:

I. From 2010 through October 21, 2015 drug overdoses in New Hampshire have claimed 1,322 lives, of which 315 were related to heroin and 377 to fentanyl. Heroin-related hospital emergency department visits in New Hampshire during the first 9 months of 2015 increased by 70.4 percent over the same period the previous year; and between July and September 2015, the anti-opioid drug Naloxone was administered by emergency responders to prevent an opioid death 866 times.

II. Drug-related deaths currently are eclipsing by far the number of deaths in highway fatalities. At the same time, however, there was a 21.43 percent increase in persons killed in highway crashes as of mid-October 2015 compared with the same period in 2014 and nearly 500 additional serious but not fatal injury crashes, with significant numbers involving drugged driving. Armed robberies and burglaries and other street crimes involving drugs have become a weekly occurrence and every county in the state has been affected.

III. Increased information sharing and more visible police presence on the streets and highways along with intensive enforcement of the traffic laws is strongly correlated to the deterrence of crime, cutting off the supply of drugs, apprehension of criminals, and a reduction in highway deaths.

IV. This act is intended to make additional resources available to provide for more, better, and smarter law enforcement approaches to the current crisis.

277:2 New Subdivision; Substance Abuse Enforcement Program. Amend RSA 21-P by inserting after section 65 the following new subdivision:

Substance Abuse Enforcement Program

21-P:66 Substance Abuse Enforcement Program.

I. The commissioner of safety shall establish a substance abuse enforcement program which shall make grants available to county and local law enforcement agencies, and also provide funding for the division of state police for the following purposes:

(a) Overtime costs for officers performing law enforcement activities under this program.

(b) Overtime, supplies, and other costs of the state forensic science laboratory.

II. The commissioner shall establish protocols and conditions for increased state police patrols and conditions for eligibility for grants to local and county law enforcement agencies. The protocols and conditions shall be based on the principles of intelligence-driven, problem-oriented policing, using statistics and information to place additional police patrol and investigative presence at the locations, times, and places where there have been a significant convergence of motor vehicle crashes, crimes, and drug use, or in corridors known to be used by drug dealers for shipments of illegal drugs into the state. The protocols and conditions shall:

(a) Require dedicated patrol units relieved of taking calls for service absent an emergency.

(b) Insure that the officers assigned to such patrol units have been trained in the concept of data-driven policing and have an appropriate knowledge of the requirements of the state and federal constitutions.

III. The commissioner shall give equal consideration to all local and county law enforcement agencies and the division of state police when allocating available program funding.

IV. The program shall include the following prohibitions on allowable uses of funds:

(a) No funds shall be granted for “purchase of evidence” or for “confidential funds.”

(b) No funds shall be used for the purchase of operational equipment, except for direct supply costs for state forensic science laboratory testing.

(c) No funds shall be used for supplanting locally budgeted and approved funds for routine law enforcement.

V. The program shall include semi-annual reporting, to the governor, senate president, and speaker of the house of representatives, which includes measurable program results and a detailed accounting of program funding and uses. The first report shall be submitted on or before December 15, 2016.

21-P:67 Rulemaking. The commissioner of safety shall adopt rules to implement this subdivision. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, such rules shall be exempt from the provisions of RSA 541-A.

277:3 Substance Abuse Enforcement Program; Rulemaking; July 1, 2017. RSA 21-P:67 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

21-P:67 Rulemaking. The commissioner of safety shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, to implement this subdivision.

277:4 New Subparagraph; Administrative Procedures Act; Exceptions. Amend RSA 541-A:21, I by inserting after subparagraph (hh) the following new subparagraph:

(ii) RSA 21-P:67, relative to the substance abuse enforcement program.

277:5 Repeal. RSA 541-A:21, I(ii), relative to a rulemaking exception for the substance abuse enforcement program, is repealed.

277:6 Appropriation; Department of Safety; Substance Abuse Enforcement Program.

I. The sum of $1,500,000 for the biennium ending June 30, 2017 is hereby appropriated to the department of safety, for the purpose of funding the substance abuse enforcement program under RSA 21-P:66.

II.(a) For the purposes of funding the appropriation made in paragraph I, the governor shall identify excess appropriations from sums appropriated pursuant to 2015, 275 and 276, and shall transfer said sums to 2 separate accounting units as follows:

(1) An accounting unit for enforcement activities, including grants to local and county agencies.

(2) An accounting unit for division of forensic science laboratory activities.

(b) Prior to making such transfers, the governor shall certify to the fiscal committee of the general court that any excess appropriations identified pursuant to this section are in addition to the projected lapses assumed during the adoption of the state operating budget for the biennium ending June 30, 2017. Any transfers made pursuant to this section shall not require the prior approval of the fiscal committee of the general court and the governor and council and shall not be subject to the provisions of RSA 9:16-a, 9:17-a, and RSA 9:17-c.

277:7 Effective Date.

I. Sections 3 and 5 of this act shall take effect July 1, 2017.

II. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved: June 17, 2016

Effective Date: I. Sections 3 and 5 effective July 1, 2017

II. Remainder effective June 17, 2016