Revision: March 27, 2014, midnight
HB 1125-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2014 SESSION
04/05
HOUSE BILL 1125-FN
AN ACT repealing the crime of adultery.
SPONSORS: Rep. O'Flaherty, Hills 12; Rep. C. McGuire, Merr 29
COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law
This bill repeals the crime of adultery.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
14-2171
04/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen
AN ACT repealing the crime of adultery.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Repeal. RSA 645:3, relative to the crime of adultery, is repealed.
2 Family Mediators; Privileged Communications. Amend RSA 328-C:9, III(d) to read as follows:
(d) The family mediator has received information about a felony or misdemeanor[, excepting adultery,] that has been or is about to be committed.
3 Proof of Marriage. Amend RSA 457:41 to read as follows:
457:41 In Criminal Cases. In actions for criminal conversation, and in indictments for [adultery,] bigamy[,] and the like, there must be proof of a marriage in fact.
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2015.
LBAO
14-2171
11/15/13
HB 1125-FN - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT repealing the crime of adultery.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Judicial Branch states this bill, as introduced, may decrease state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2015 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures, or state, county, and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Judicial Branch states this bill repeals the crime of adultery as specified in RSA 645:3 and would amend the divorce statutes to remove adultery as a cause for divorce. The Branch states the removing of the crime of adultery would have no fiscal impact on the Branch because there has not been an adultery prosecution in over a decade. Removing adultery as a cause for divorce is unlikely to change the Branch’s caseload. The proposed bill would force the party bringing the divorce petition to bring it on a different fault ground pursuant to RSA 458:7 or to bring it, as most divorces are brought, on the ground of irreconcilable differences pursuant to RSA 458:7-a. There may be a small but indeterminable decrease in state expenditures if more divorce proceedings are brought on the grounds of irreconcilable differences because these proceedings can be shorter than similar actions on a fault grounds.