Revision: May 18, 2017, 12:19 p.m.
HB 437 - VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES
05/11/2017 1621s
2017 SESSION
17-0633
08/04
HOUSE BILL 437
SPONSORS: Rep. Murphy, Hills. 7
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
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This bill allows a law enforcement officer to have temporary police authority in another jurisdiction until an arrested person is declared medically cleared.
This bill also allows law enforcement to release certain motor vehicle accident reports and records.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
05/11/2017 1621s 17-0633
08/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Seventeen
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Custody of Subject; Not Medically Cleared. Amend RSA 105:13, II to read as follows:
II. Where no written agreement exists or no officer is available, any duly authorized police officer, constable, or watchman shall have temporary police authority in another jurisdiction in the state, when requested by a law enforcement officer from such jurisdiction in the state to render assistance to such officer under such officer's direction in an emergency for the purposes of making an arrest or effecting custody of a detainee, conducting a search, quelling a disturbance, providing traffic or crowd control, holding an arrested person in need of medical treatment in temporary custody until medically cleared to enter a state or county correctional facility or municipal jail, or securing a crime scene, until relieved by the requesting officer or otherwise directed by the ranking on-duty officer of the requesting jurisdiction.
2 New Paragraph; Motor Vehicles; Records and Certification. Amend RSA 260:14 by inserting after paragraph VII the following new paragraph:
VII-a. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a law enforcement agency of a political subdivision or its employees from releasing the following:
(a) Copies of reports of motor vehicle accidents prepared by the agency, and filed with the division pursuant to RSA 264:25 and RSA 264:26, to an owner, operator, or passenger of a vehicle involved in said accident, pedestrian hit by a vehicle in said accident, owner of property damaged in said accident, or the insurance company of any of the foregoing parties. Such agency may charge a reasonable fee therefor, to be deposited into the general fund of said political subdivision.
(b) Copies of reports of motor vehicle accidents prepared by the agency that are not required to be reported pursuant to RSA 264:25 and RSA 264:26, to an owner, operator, or passenger of a vehicle involved in said accident, pedestrian hit by a vehicle in said accident, owner of property damaged in said accident, or the insurance company of any of the foregoing parties. Such agency may charge a reasonable fee therefor, to be deposited into the general fund of said political subdivision.
(c) Information obtained by the law enforcement agency that accident participants are required to exchange pursuant to RSA 264:25, to an owner, operator, or passenger of a vehicle involved in said accident, pedestrian hit by a vehicle in said accident, or owner of property damaged in said accident.
3 New Paragraph; Motor Vehicles; Records and Certification. Amend RSA 260:14 by inserting after paragraph XI the following new paragraph:
XI-a. No political subdivision or its agencies or employees shall be civilly liable for any improper use of or release of motor vehicle records to any person obtaining such records as provided in this section.
4 Motor Vehicles; Accidents and Financial Responsibility; Conduct and Reporting After a Motor Vehicle Accident; Conduct After Accident. Amend RSA 264:25, I to read as follows:
I. The driver of a vehicle who knows or should have known that he or she has just been involved in any accident which resulted in death, personal injury or damages to property, shall immediately stop such vehicle at the scene of the accident and give to the driver or owner of any other vehicle involved in said accident, and to any person injured, and to the owner of any property damaged, the driver's name and address, the driver's license number, the driver's or owner's insurance provider and policy information, if applicable, the registration number of the vehicle, and the name and address of each occupant. If by reason of injury, absence or removal from the place of the accident, or other cause, such injured person, or driver of such other vehicle, or owner of the property damaged, or any of them, is unable to understand or receive the information required in this section, such information shall be given to any uniformed police officer arriving at the scene of the accident or immediately to a police officer at the nearest police station. Police officers receiving such information, and other employees of such officers' law enforcement agencies, shall be authorized to provide that information to such injured persons, drivers, or owners. Any person driving a vehicle which is in any manner involved in an accident or any person who owns a vehicle which was illegally parked when it was involved in an accident shall within 15 days after such accident report in writing to the division the facts required hereunder together with a statement of the circumstances if any person is injured or killed, or if damage to property is in excess of $1,000, unless the accident is investigated by a police officer, in which case a report filed by such officer shall satisfy the requirements of this section; provided, however, that any person not otherwise required by this paragraph to file a report, who owns a vehicle which was involved in an accident, may file a report as provided by this paragraph. Voluntary intoxication shall not constitute a defense in the matter of knowledge under the provisions of this section. All reports, filed as required in this paragraph, shall be in the form prescribed by the director and shall contain information to enable the division to determine whether the requirements for the deposit of security under RSA 264:3 are inapplicable by reason of the existence of insurance or other exceptions specified in that [chapter] section. If such driver is physically or mentally incapable of making such report, the owner of the vehicle involved in such accident or the owner's representative shall, after learning of the accident, forthwith make such report. The driver or the owner shall furnish such additional relevant information as the division shall require. The provisions of this section shall be of general application and shall not be restricted to a way as defined in RSA 259.
5 Motor Vehicles; Accidents and Financial Responsibility; Conduct and Reporting After a Motor Vehicle Accident; Uniform Police Investigation Report of Accident. Amend RSA 264:26, II to read as follows:
II. In each reportable accident in which any person is killed or injured or in which damage to the property of any one individual, including the driver, is sustained, the police officer, agency, or individual who, in the regular course of duty, investigates such accident, either at the time of or at the scene of the accident or thereafter, by interviewing the participants or witnesses, shall, within 5 days after completing such investigation, complete and forward one copy of such report to the division. Such report shall call for, [and] contain, and incorporate by reference all available detailed information to establish and to disclose the cause of the accident, the conditions then existing and the persons and vehicles involved including the names and addresses of all occupants of the vehicles involved, as well as the enforcement action taken. In each reportable accident in which a person is killed, the police officer, agency, or individual who, in the regular course of duty, investigates the accident shall provide written notice to the department of safety within 7 days of the accident. The notice shall include the information contained on the front page of the uniform police accident report and may be submitted electronically or by fax. This requirement shall not relieve the investigating agency or officer from the responsibility [in RSA 265:25] of filing the complete report [as soon as it is available] as required by this paragraph.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.