Bill Text: NJ A3093 | 2014-2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Upgrades initiating, circulating, or transmitting false public alarm to crime of the second degree.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-08 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee [A3093 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2014-A3093-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman DAVID P. RIBLE
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
Assemblyman SEAN T. KEAN
District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Upgrades initiating, circulating, or transmitting false public alarm to crime of the second degree.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning false public alarms and amending N.J.S.2C:33-3.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. N.J.S.2C:33-3 is amended to read as follows:
2C:33-3. False Public Alarms. a. Except as provided in subsection b. or c. of this section, a person is guilty of a crime of the [third] second degree if he initiates or circulates a report or warning of an impending fire, explosion, bombing, crime, catastrophe or emergency knowing that the report or warning is false or baseless and that it is likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport, or to cause public inconvenience or alarm. A person is guilty of a crime of the [third] second degree if he knowingly causes such false alarm to be transmitted to or within any organization, official or volunteer, for dealing with emergencies involving danger to life or property.
b. A person is guilty of a crime of the second degree if in addition to the report or warning initiated, circulated or transmitted under subsection a. of this section, he places or causes to be placed any false or facsimile bomb in a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport or in a place likely to cause public inconvenience or alarm. A violation of this subsection is a crime of the first degree if it occurs during a declared period of national, State or county emergency.
c. A person is guilty of a crime of the second degree if a violation of subsection a. of this section in fact results in serious bodily injury to another person or occurs during a declared period of national, State or county emergency. A person is guilty of a crime of the first degree if a violation of subsection a. of this section in fact results in death.
d. For the purposes of this section, "in fact" means that strict liability is imposed. It shall not be a defense that the death or serious bodily injury was not a foreseeable consequence of the person's acts or that the death or serious bodily injury was caused by the actions of another person or by circumstances beyond the control of the actor. The actor shall be strictly liable upon proof that the crime occurred during a declared period of national, State or county emergency. It shall not be a defense that the actor did not know that there was a declared period of emergency at the time the crime occurred.
e. A person is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree if the person knowingly places a call to a 9-1-1 emergency telephone system without purpose of reporting the need for 9-1-1 service.
(cf: P.L.2002, c.26, s.16)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would upgrade the crime of initiating, circulating, or transmitting a false public alarm to a crime of the second degree.
Currently, subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:33-3 makes it a crime of the third degree to initiate or circulate a report or warning of an impending fire, explosion, bombing, crime, catastrophe or emergency knowing that the report or warning is false or baseless and that it is likely to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transport, or to cause public inconvenience or alarm. It is also a crime of the third degree to knowingly cause such false alarm to be transmitted to or within any organization, official or volunteer, for dealing with emergencies involving danger to life or property. The bill would upgrade both of these acts to crimes of the second degree.
