HB 1637-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2010 SESSION
04/10
HOUSE BILL 1637-FN
AN ACT relative to the registration of criminal offenders.
SPONSORS: Rep. Robertson, Ches 3
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
This bill provides that a court may issue an order requiring that a sexual offender or offender against children register as a criminal offender. The bill also provides a review process allowing all sexual offenders and offenders against children to petition the court for removal from the public list maintained by the department of safety.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
10-2076
04/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT relative to the registration of criminal offenders.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Registration Criminal Offenders; Definitions. Amend RSA 651-B:1, XI(a) to read as follows:
XI.(a) “Required to register” means that a sexual offender or offender against children was charged with an offense or an attempt, conspiracy, solicitation, or as an accomplice to commit a sexual offense or offense against a child that resulted in one of the following outcomes:
(1) Conviction and a court order requiring the sexual offender or offender against children to register pursuant to this chapter.
(2) A finding of not guilty by reason of insanity and a court order requiring the sexual offender or offender against children to register pursuant to this chapter.
(3) An adjudication as a juvenile delinquent and the court at the time of the dispositional hearing finds, pursuant to RSA 169-B:19, that the juvenile is required to register.
(4) An adjudication of juvenile delinquency or its equivalent in another state or territory of the United States if the juvenile is required to register under the laws of that jurisdiction.
(5) An order committing the person as a sexually violent predator pursuant to RSA 135-E.
2 Registration of Criminal Offenders; Duration of Registration. Amend RSA 651-B:6, III to read as follows:
III.(a)(1) [All tier III offenders shall remain on the public list contained in RSA 651-B:7 for life.] A tier III offender may petition the superior court to have his or her name and information removed from the public list. The petition shall not be filed prior to the completion of all the terms and conditions of the sentence and shall include the offender’s reasoning for submitting the petition. The petition shall be accompanied by a risk assessment prepared by a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist at the offender’s expense. The superior court may grant the petition if the offender has not been convicted of any felony, class A misdemeanor, sex offense, or offense against a child, has successfully completed any periods of supervised release, probation, or parole, and has successfully completed an appropriate sex offender treatment program as determined by the court, or may request that the petition be reviewed by a panel consisting of the police chief in the city or town in which the offender resides, the county attorney, and a representative of the state police with jurisdiction in the county in which the offender resides. The panel may conduct a hearing on the merits of the offender’s petition and shall issue written findings and recommendations to the superior court within 30 days of receipt of the petition. After reviewing the panel’s findings and recommendations, the superior court shall grant the petition only where, in the opinion of the court, removal from the registration requirements will assist the individual in the individual’s rehabilitation and will be consistent with the public welfare.
(2) A tier II offender may petition the superior court to have his or her name and information removed from the public list. [The petition shall not be filed prior to the completion of all the terms and conditions of the sentence and in no case earlier than 15 years after the date of release. The petition shall be accompanied by a risk assessment prepared by a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist at the offender’s expense. The court may grant the petition if the offender has not been convicted of any felony, class A misdemeanor, sex offense, or offense against a child, has successfully completed any periods of supervised release, probation, or parole, and has successfully completed an appropriate sex offender treatment program as determined by the court. If the court denies the petition, the offender shall not file another petition for 5 years from the date of denial.] The petition shall not be filed prior to the completion of all the terms and conditions of the sentence and shall include the offender’s reasoning for submitting the petition. The petition shall be accompanied by a risk assessment prepared by a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist at the offender’s expense. The superior court may grant the petition if the offender has not been convicted of any felony, class A misdemeanor, sex offense, or offense against a child, has successfully completed any periods of supervised release, probation, or parole, and has successfully completed an appropriate sex offender treatment program as determined by the court, or may request that the petition be reviewed by a panel consisting of the police chief in the city or town in which the offender resides, the county attorney, and a representative of the state police with jurisdiction in the county in which the offender resides. The panel may conduct a hearing on the merits of the offender’s petition and shall issue written findings and recommendations to the superior court within 30 days of receipt of the petition. After reviewing the panel’s findings and recommendations, the superior court shall grant the petition only where, in the opinion of the court, removal from the registration requirements will assist the individual in the individual’s rehabilitation and will be consistent with the public welfare.
(3) A tier I offender may petition the superior court to have his or her name and other information removed from the public list. [The petition shall not be filed prior to the completion of all the terms and conditions of the sentence and in no case earlier than 5 years after the date of release. The petition shall be accompanied by a risk assessment prepared by a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist at the offender’s expense. The court may grant the petition if the offender has not been convicted of any felony, class A misdemeanor, sexual offense, or offense against a child, has successfully completed any periods of supervised release, probation, or parole, and has successfully completed an appropriate sex offender treatment program as determined by the court.] The petition shall not be filed prior to the completion of all the terms and conditions of the sentence and shall include the offender’s reasoning for submitting the petition. The petition shall be accompanied by a risk assessment prepared by a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist at the offender’s expense. The superior court may grant the petition if the offender has not been convicted of any felony, class A misdemeanor, sex offense, or offense against a child, has successfully completed any periods of supervised release, probation, or parole, and has successfully completed an appropriate sex offender treatment program as determined by the court, or may request that the petition be reviewed by a panel consisting of the police chief in the city or town in which the offender resides, the county attorney, and a representative of the state police with jurisdiction in the county in which the offender resides. The panel may conduct a hearing on the merits of the offender’s petition and shall issue written findings and recommendations to the superior court within 30 days of receipt of the petition. After reviewing the panel’s findings and recommendations, the superior court shall grant the petition only where, in the opinion of the court, removal from the registration requirements will assist the individual in the individual’s rehabilitation and will be consistent with the public welfare.
(b) Prior to granting any petition to remove an offender from the public list, the court shall provide notice to the county attorney who prosecuted the case, the victim advocate, and the victim or victim’s family, and permit those parties to be heard on the petition. Prior to any decision granting the application, the court shall provide the victim with the opportunity to address the court. The victim may appear personally, or by counsel, or may provide a written statement to reasonably express his or her views concerning the offense, the person responsible, and the need for maintaining the registration requirement. The judge shall consider the statements of the victim pursuant to this section when making a decision regarding the application. [The judge shall grant the application, after a hearing, only where, in the opinion of the court, removal from the registration requirements will assist the individual in the individual’s rehabilitation and will be consistent with the public welfare.]
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2011.
LBAO
10-2076
12/15/09
HB 1637-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to the registration of criminal offenders.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Safety, Department of Justice, and Judicial Branch state this bill may increase state expenditures and decrease state restricted revenue by an indeterminable amount in FY 2011 and each year thereafter. This bill will have no fiscal impact on county and local revenue or expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Safety states this bill would require the Division of State Police to register sexual offenders or offenders against children as criminal offenders. The bill would also allow offenders to petition the superior court to request removal from the public list of offenders. There would be a panel to review petition requests for removal, if assigned to it by the superior court, which would include a State Police representative. The Department states the State Police representative would need to have jurisdiction in the county where the offender resides, and estimates it would need approximately $52,649 annually (the equivalent salary cost of one full-time State Police trooper first class) would be required to fulfill this obligation. The Department states if the bill passes, the state would no longer be in compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Law, which bans removal of tier III offenders from the public list, and sets distinct waiting periods for petitioning for removal from the list by tier I and II offenders. As a result, the Department would lose approximately $300,000 annually of federal funding for its sex offender registry.
The Department of Justice states this bill appears to give a court the authority to order a sexual offender or offender against children to register under RSA 651-B. The bill would also allow all offenders to petition the court to have their names removed from the public sexual offender registry under specified circumstances. The Department does not handle the registration of sexual offenders and thus passage of this bill would not have an impact on the investigative or prosecutorial function of the office. If passed, the bill would render state law out of compliance with federal law. If the state is not in substantial compliance with federal law by June 2010, the state could lose up to 10% of its Justice Administration Grant which would total $170,000 in FY 2011 and each year thereafter.
LBAO
10-2076
12/15/09
The Judicial Branch states The proposed bill would amend RSA 651-B:1, XI(a) to provide that a court may order a sexual offender or an offender against children to register as a criminal offender and RSA 651-B:6, III regarding the review process for sexual offenders and offenders against children to petition the superior court for removal from the public list maintained by the department of safety. The first section of the proposed bill should have an insignificant fiscal impact on the Branch since it merely requires the issuance of an order in certain already existing proceedings. The order to be issued does not seem to be one that could be contested; therefore, little fiscal impact would result from that section. The potential fiscal impact to the Branch is in the second section of the proposed bill. Under current law, tier I and II offenders may petition the superior court to have his or her name removed from the public list; however, tier III offenders must remain on the list for life. The proposed bill would allow tier III offenders to file such a petition and makes the procedure for such petitions uniform for all tiers of offenders. Thus, the major fiscal impact of the proposed bill would be the addition of tier III offenders, which consists of those convicted of the most serious offenses. The Branch has no information on which to determine how many new petitions for removal from the public list may be filed as a result of the proposed bill. The Branch states they also has very limited experience with such petitions since to date very few such petitions have been filed under either the existing RSA 651-B:6, III or the recently repealed RSA 651-B:7, VI. Such petitions would be more civil in nature than criminal. In reviewing what occurred in one such case that was filed and comparing that to what is included in the various case types from the 2005 Judicial Needs Assessment, the Branch concludes that such petitions are most akin to a routine equity case. The cost to the Branch of an average routine equity case in the superior court is $184.21 in FY 2010 and beyond, without consideration of any salary increases or decreases that may occur. These numbers do not consider the cost of any appeals that may be taken following trial in any such case. The exact fiscal impact cannot be determined at this time.