CHAPTER 48
HB 86 – FINAL VERSION
04/21/05 1131s
2005 SESSION
06/01
HOUSE BILL 86
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
This bill changes the period of time a police department is required to hold certain unclaimed and abandoned property before disposing of it from 180 days to 90 days.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
04/21/05 1131s
05-0210
06/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five
AN ACT relative to property held in police department property rooms.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
48:1 Property Held in Police Department Property Rooms; Length of Time Changed. Amend RSA 471-C:13 to read as follows:
471-C:13 Property Held in Police Department Property Rooms. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, all noncontraband abandoned or lost personal property which has a value of $250 or more and which has been held in a police department property room for a period of at least 180 days, or which has a value of less than $250 and has been held for a period of at least 90 days, may be disposed of by the police department by returning it to the finder, if known, if the finder was other than a police officer who discovered the property during the course of the police officer's usual police duties. If the property cannot be returned to the finder, the property shall be sold at public auction with the proceeds to be turned over to the town or city treasurer. Except that any bicycle which has been held in a police department property room for a period of [180] 90 days or more shall be sold at public auction with the proceeds to be used for the support of local bicycle safety programs, or, if no local bicycle safety programs are available, then with the consent of the local governing body, to be used for any other purpose. The police department shall be relieved of all liability for any claim thereafter arising or made with respect to property disposed of under this section. A good faith judgment of the value of the property by the police department shall be determinative for purposes of this section.
48:2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
(Approved: May 23, 2005)
(Effective Date: July 22, 2005)