Bill Text: NH SB315 | 2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled


Bill Title: Relative to law enforcement agency reporting on information concerning bias crimes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-07-10 - Signed by the Governor on 07/03/2024; Chapter 0147; Effective 09/01/2024 [SB315 Detail]

Download: New_Hampshire-2024-SB315-Enrolled.html

SB 315-FN-LOCAL - VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES

 

03/21/2024   0990s

2024 SESSION

24-2927

10/05

 

SENATE BILL 315-FN-LOCAL

 

AN ACT relative to law enforcement agency reporting on information concerning bias crimes.

 

SPONSORS: Sen. Chandley, Dist 11; Sen. Perkins Kwoka, Dist 21; Sen. Rosenwald, Dist 13; Sen. Whitley, Dist 15; Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Sen. Soucy, Dist 18; Sen. Fenton, Dist 10; Sen. Prentiss, Dist 5; Sen. Altschiller, Dist 24; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20; Rep. N. Murphy, Hills. 12; Rep. Simpson, Rock. 33; Rep. Harriott-Gathright, Hills. 10

 

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

 

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AMENDED ANALYSIS

 

This bill requires a law enforcement agency operating within New Hampshire to report information concerning hate crimes to the department of safety, and requires the department of safety to publish the statistical information on its website.

 

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

03/21/2024   0990s 24-2927

10/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four

 

AN ACT relative to law enforcement agency reporting on information concerning bias crimes.

 

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

 

1  New Paragraph; State Police; Crime Reporting System; Bias Crimes.  Amend RSA 106-B:14-c by inserting after paragraph I the following new paragraph:

I-a.  Law enforcement agencies operating within New Hampshire shall submit crime reports related to hate crimes to the department of safety, division of state police, no fewer than every 6 months.  The report shall be a compilation of the number of offenses and arrests on hate crimes occurring within their own jurisdictions, submitted in the manner and in the form specified by the department of safety, division of state police.  The department of safety shall make available on its website statistical reports concerning hate crimes, containing the number and nature of criminal offenses, arrests, and clearances, and any other data determined to be appropriate relating to the method, frequency, cause, and prevention of crime.  The department of safety shall update the statistical data on its website no fewer than every 45 days.  For purposes of this paragraph, "hate crime" includes any offense where the officer develops reasonable suspicion to believe that the crime was motivated in any part by hate or bias toward race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, disability, or any other protected characteristics identified in either RSA 354-B:1 or RSA 651:6, I(f).

2  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

 

LBA

24-2927

Revised 12/18/23

 

SB 315-FN-LOCAL- FISCAL NOTE

AS INTRODUCED

 

AN ACT relative to law enforcement agency reporting on information concerning bias crimes.

 

FISCAL IMPACT:      [ X ] State              [ X ] County               [ X ] Local              [    ] None

 

 

Estimated State Impact - Increase / (Decrease)

 

FY 2024

FY 2025

FY 2026

FY 2027

Revenue

$0

$0

$0

$0

Revenue Fund(s)

None

Expenditures

$0

Indeterminable

Funding Source(s)

General Fund

Appropriations

$0

$0

$0

$0

Funding Source(s)

None

Does this bill provide sufficient funding to cover estimated expenditures? [X] See Below

Does this bill authorize new positions to implement this bill? [X] N/A

 

Estimated Political Subdivision Impact - Increase / (Decrease)

 

FY 2024

FY 2025

FY 2026

FY 2027

County Revenue

$0

$0

$0

$0

County Expenditures

$0

Indeterminable

Local Revenue

$0

$0

$0

$0

Local Expenditures

$0

Indeterminable

 

METHODOLOGY:

This bill, assumed effective in FY 2025, requires a law enforcement agency operating within the State to collect and report information concerning the bias crimes as prescribed by the Division of State Police (NHSP).  Currently, NHSP only captures whether an incident simply has bias motivation.  The Department of Safety states this bill requires more information and will require additional data fields to track, aggregate and report through the lifecycle of a case rather than just the onset of the case, which will involve additional staff time.  The Department states this bill will require software programming changes to its state records management system and will also change its contracted state repository, which submits these types of statistics to the FBI. The Department has not provided a cost estimate (or range of potential cost) attributable to this bill.

 

It is possible this bill may result in additional costs to county and local law enforcement agencies to comply, however, those costs are indeterminable and would vary from agency to agency.

 

AGENCIES CONTACTED:

Department of Safety, New Hampshire Association of Counties, and New Hampshire Municipal Association

 

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