HB 1562-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
04/10
HOUSE BILL 1562-FN
AN ACT establishing a criminal penalty for sending or receiving sexually explicit text messages or images by using a cell phone or other mobile device.
SPONSORS: Rep. Gandia, Hills 27
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
This bill establishes a criminal penalty for sexting by using a cell phone to transmit or receive sexually explicit images or text messages.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12-2643
04/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT establishing a criminal penalty for sending or receiving sexually explicit text messages or images by using a cell phone or other mobile device.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Section; Public Indecency; Sexting. Amend RSA 645 by inserting after section 3 the following new section:
645:4 Sexting.
I. In this section:
(a) “Indecent visual depiction” means any image, photograph, videotape, film, or other reproduction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and includes data stored on any computer, telecommunication device or other electronic storage media which is capable of conversion into a visual image.
(b) “Minor” means a person under 17 years of age.
(c) “Sexually explicit conduct” means masturbation or lewd exhibition of the genitals, pubic hair, anus or vulva, or female breast of a minor.
(d) “Telecommunication device” means a device which possesses data, telephonic, video, or sound transmission capabilities apart from any system to which such device may be connected for the sending or receiving of voice, sound, data, or video transmissions.
(e) “Transmit” means to send, distribute, transfer, or disseminate by use of a computer or telecommunication device.
II.(a) No minor shall knowingly and voluntarily use a computer or telecommunication device to transmit an indecent visual depiction of himself or herself to another person.
(b) No minor shall knowingly possess an indecent visual depiction that was transmitted in violation of subparagraph (a) by another minor.
III. Paragraph II shall not apply to a minor if all of the following conditions apply:
(a) The minor did not solicit the indecent visual depiction;
(b) The minor took reasonable steps to report the indecent visual depiction to a school official or a law enforcement officer; and
(c) The minor who received the indecent visual depiction did not transmit it to another person.
IV.(a) A minor who violates the provisions of paragraph II shall be guilty of a violation and subject to a fine not to exceed $150. The court may suspend the imposition of this sentence if the minor agrees to probation with a minimum condition that the minor shall perform 2 8-hour days of court-approved community service.
(b) A minor who is convicted of a second or subsequent offense under paragraph II shall be guilty of a class B misdemeanor and subject to a fine not to exceed $350. The court may suspend the imposition of this sentence if the minor agrees to probation with a minimum condition that the minor shall perform 5 8-hour days of court-approved community service.
V. No minor who is convicted under this section shall be required to register as a criminal offender under RSA 651-B.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2013.
LBAO
12-2643
12/13/11
HB 1562-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT establishing a criminal penalty for sending or receiving sexually explicit text messages or images by using a cell phone or other mobile device.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Judicial Branch states this bill may increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2013 and each year thereafter. There is no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures, or state, county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Judicial Branch states this bill makes sexting by a minor an offense punishable as a violation for the first offense and as a class B misdemeanor for a second or subsequent offense. The Branch has no information to estimate how many charges would be brought as a result of the changes contained in the bill to determine the fiscal impact on expenditures but does have information on the cost for processing a violation and a class B misdemeanor. All costs are estimated based on case weight information from the last needs assessment completed in 2005. The Branch states a violation will cost $41.92 per case in FY 2013 and $43.20 per case in FY 2014 and each year thereafter, and a class B misdemeanor will cost $43.19 per case in FY 2013 and $44.54 per case in FY 2014 and each year thereafter. The possibility of appeals increases the likelihood the fiscal impact on the Branch will exceed $10,000.