HB 1263-FN - AS INTRODUCED
2000 SESSION
HOUSE BILL
1263-FN
AN ACT establishing the
crime of misrepresentation of law or facts of a case by a state judicial,
executive, or legislative official.
SPONSORS: Rep. Marple,
Merr 11; Rep. Gilman; Graf 1; Rep. Christiansen, Hills 23; Rep. R. Nowe,
Rock 3; Rep. Boyce, Belk 5; Sen. Roberge, Dist 9
COMMITTEE: Judiciary
ANALYSIS
This bill makes it a class B felony for
any judicial, executive, or legislative official to knowingly or otherwise
misrepresent the law or facts of a case in a ruling, order, judgement,
opinion or decree.
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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(a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
00-2185
05/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two
Thousand
AN ACT establishing the crime of
misrepresentation of law or facts of a case by a state judicial, executive, or
legislative official.
Be it Enacted by the Senate
and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Subdivision; Misrepresentation of Law
or Facts by State Judicial, Executive, or Legislative Officials. Amend RSA 638
by inserting after section 27 the following new subdivision:
Misrepresentation of Law or
Facts by Certain Officers
638:28 Misrepresentation of Law or Fact by
State Judicial, Executive, or Legislative Officials.
I. Any judicial, executive, or
legislative official employed, elected, or appointed to serve in the state
of New Hampshire and holding the power to issue rulings, orders, judgments,
opinions, or decrees, shall provide a memorandum with every decision
justifying the findings of fact and law as well as the basis for the legal
conclusions derived therefrom.
II. If the findings filed according to
paragraph I are found to have been actually or constructively tailored to
misrepresent the law or facts, or both, by the house judiciary committee,
the official submitting those findings shall be guilty of a class B felony.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take
effect January 1, 2001.
HB 1263-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT establishing the crime of
misrepresentation of law or facts of a case by a state judicial, executive, or
legislative official.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC),
Judicial Council, and Department of Corrections have determined this bill
may increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2001 and
each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local
expenditures or state, county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The AOC stated this bill creates a category
class B felony offense. The AOC has determined this legislation will have
little, if any, fiscal impact on the Branch as it will not significantly
impact caseload.
The Judicial Council 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 is unable to
predict how many, if any, individuals would be incarcerated as a result of
this legislation. The average cost of incarceration for FY 1999 was $19,358
per inmate. The average cost of probation/parole supervision was $842 per
inmate.
The Department of Justice stated this bill
will have no fiscal impact on the Department.