File No. 649

House of Representatives, April 30, 2007

The Committee on Judiciary reported through REP. LAWLOR of the 99th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the House, that the substitute bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECKS, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, REPEATED FALSE ALARMS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF SEIZED FIREWORKS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 29-11 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2007):

(a) The bureau in the Division of State Police within the Department of Public Safety known as the State Police Bureau of Identification shall be maintained for the purposes (1) of providing an authentic record of each person sixteen years of age or over who is charged with the commission of any crime involving moral turpitude, (2) of providing definite information relative to the identity of each person so arrested, (3) of providing a record of the final judgment of the court resulting from such arrest, unless such record has been erased pursuant to section 54-142a, and (4) for maintaining a central repository of complete criminal history record disposition information. The Commissioner of Public Safety is directed to maintain the State Police Bureau of Identification, which bureau shall receive, classify and file in an orderly manner all fingerprints, pictures and descriptions, including previous criminal records as far as known of all persons so arrested, and shall classify and file in a like manner all identification material and records received from the government of the United States and from the various state governments and subdivisions thereof, and shall cooperate with such governmental units in the exchange of information relative to criminals. The State Police Bureau of Identification shall accept fingerprints of applicants for admission to the bar of the state and, to the extent permitted by federal law, shall exchange state, multistate and federal criminal history records with the State Bar Examining Committee for purposes of investigation of the qualifications of any applicant for admission as an attorney under section 51-80. The record of all arrests reported to the bureau after March 16, 1976, shall contain information of any disposition within ninety days after the disposition has occurred.

(b) Any cost incurred by the State Police Bureau of Identification in conducting any name search and fingerprinting of applicants for admission to the bar of the state shall be paid from fees collected by the State Bar Examining Committee.

(c) The Commissioner of Public Safety shall charge the following fees for the service indicated: (1) Name search, eighteen dollars; (2) fingerprint search, twenty-five dollars; (3) personal record search, twenty-five dollars; (4) letters of good conduct search, twenty-five dollars; (5) bar association search, twenty-five dollars; (6) fingerprinting, five dollars; (7) criminal history record information search, twenty-five dollars. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any federal, state or municipal agency.

(d) The Commissioner of Public Safety may adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, necessary to implement the provisions of the National Child Protection Act of 1993, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Volunteers for Children Act of 1998, and the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact as provided in section 29-164f to provide for national criminal history records checks to determine an employee's or volunteer's suitability and fitness to care for the safety and well-being of children, the elderly and individuals with disabilities.

Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2007) Notwithstanding section 54-86a of the general statutes, in any criminal proceeding, any property or material that constitutes child pornography shall remain in the care, custody and control of the state, and a court shall deny any request by the defendant to copy, photograph, duplicate or otherwise reproduce any property or material that constitutes child pornography so long as the attorney for the state makes the property or material reasonably available to the defendant. Such property or material shall be deemed to be reasonably available to the defendant if the attorney for the state provides the defendant, the defendant's attorney or any individual the defendant may seek to qualify to furnish expert testimony at trial, ample opportunity for inspection, viewing, and examination of the property or material at a state facility. For the purposes of this section, "child pornography" shall have the same meaning as in section 53a-193 of the general statutes.

Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2007) (a) As used in this section:

(1) "Alarm system" means an assembly of equipment and devices arranged to signal the presence of a hazard such as unauthorized intrusion into a premises, an attempted robbery or a fire or smoke condition at a premises requiring urgent attention and to which the Division of State Police is expected to respond, including, but not limited to: Automatic holdup alarm systems, burglary alarms system, holdup alarm systems, manual holdup alarm systems, audible alarm systems and fire alarm systems. "Alarm system" does not mean a system that monitors temperature or is designed solely for notification of medical emergencies.

(2) "False alarm" means the activation of any alarm system including circumstances occurring off the protected property and within the control of either the subscriber, his alarm business or his answering service to which the Division of State Police responds when caused by an individual motivated solely by criminal, malicious or mischievous intent and not caused by fire, a criminal act, emergency, or an act of nature such as an earthquake, tornado, hurricane or storm.

(3) "Subscriber" means an individual who buys, leases or otherwise acquires an alarm system and thereafter installs it or has it installed, including an individual who has control of the premises in which an operable alarm system exists.

(b) The subscriber of an alarm system shall be fined for each emergency police response to a false alarm, except that such fine shall be automatically waived for the first three false alarm responses in a calendar year. State, federal and municipal buildings or properties shall be exempt from such fine. The subscriber of an alarm system shall be fined for each emergency police response to a false alarm in a calendar year not more than: (1) Twenty-five dollars for a fourth offense, (2) fifty dollars for a fifth offense, (3) seventy-five dollars for a sixth offense, and (4) one hundred dollars for the seventh and each subsequent offense within a calendar year. Such fine shall be used for the administrative costs of administering this section, and for training and educational materials of the state police. If the subscriber is not the owner of the property in which the alarm system is located, the state police trooper shall give the property owner notice of the occurrence of the second alarm generated by the alarm system of the property.

(c) Any subscriber who has received notification from the state police informing such subscriber that a fine is being imposed for a false alarm may appeal the fine not later than seven days after the receipt of notification by filing an appeal with the Division of State Police. The Division of State Police shall review the appeal and make a determination as to whether or not the circumstances surrounding the false alarms justify a waiver of the fine. The Division of State Police shall notify the subscriber, in writing, of its final decision.

(d) All fines imposed pursuant to this section shall be payable to the Division of State Police and shall be due not later than thirty days after the date of notification, or in the case of an appeal, not later than thirty days after the date of the decision on the appeal. A subscriber who fails to pay the fine within the designated time period shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Sec. 4. Section 29-362 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2007):

The State Fire Marshal or a local fire marshal shall seize, take, store, remove or cause to be removed, at the expense of the owner, all stocks of fireworks or combustibles offered or exposed for sale, stored, held or kept in violation of sections 29-356 to 29-366, inclusive. When any fireworks have been seized, the superior court having jurisdiction, [within forty-eight hours after such seizure,] shall expeditiously cause to be left at the place where such fireworks were seized, if such place is a dwelling house, store, shop or other building, and also to be left with or at the usual place of abode of the person named therein as the owner or keeper of such fireworks, a summons notifying him or her and all others whom it may concern to appear before such court, at a place and time named in such notice, which time shall be not less than six nor more than twelve days after the posting and service thereof, then and there to show cause, if any, why such fireworks should not be adjudged a nuisance. Such summons shall describe such articles with reasonable certainty, and state when and where the same were seized. If any person named in such summons or any person claiming any interest in the same appears, he or she shall be made a party defendant in such case. The informing officer or the complainants may appear and prosecute such complaint and, if the court finds the allegations of such complaint to be true and that such fireworks or any of them have been kept in violation of any provision of sections 29-356 to 29-366, inclusive, judgment shall be rendered that such articles are a nuisance, and execution shall issue that the same be destroyed together with the crates, boxes or vessels containing the same. The court shall not require storage of the fireworks pending final disposition of the case and may order the fireworks to be destroyed upon their being inventoried, photographed and described in a sworn affidavit. Such inventory, photograph, description and sworn affidavit shall be sufficient evidence for the purposes of identification of the seized items at any subsequent court proceeding.

Statement of Legislative Commissioners:

In subdivision (1) of subsection (a) in section 3, quotation marks were removed for proper form, and subsection (b) of section 3 was rewritten for clarity.

The following fiscal impact statement and bill analysis are prepared for the benefit of members of the General Assembly, solely for the purpose of information, summarization, and explanation, and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose:

OFA Fiscal Note

State Impact:

Note: GF=General Fund

Municipal Impact: None

Explanation

Section 1 of the bill requires the Commissioner of Public Safety to adopt various regulations, and is not anticipated to result in a fiscal impact.

Section 2 limits the type of access defendants in criminal proceedings can have to child pornography material, and is not anticipated to result in a fiscal impact.

Section 3 allows the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to charge subscribers of alarm systems for an emergency police response to a false alarm (state, municipal, and federal buildings are exempt from fines). The subscriber is not assessed a fine for the first three false alarms, but is assessed $25 for a fourth offense, $50 for a fifth, $75 for a sixth, and $100 for the seventh, and each subsequent offense. In calendar year 2003 there were over 4,000 incidents with at least 4 false alarms at the same location. It is anticipated that this provision would result in a revenue gain to the state of approximately $100,000.

All fines assessed to subscribers shall be due within 30 days after notification, appeal, or decision on the appeal. Any subscriber failing to pay within the designated amount of time will be fined up to $2,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. Any revenue from criminal fines imposed under the bill or marginal cost for incarceration and/or probation supervision in the community as a result of the bill would be minimal.

Section 4 allows seized fireworks to be destroyed once they have been inventoried, photographed, and described in a sworn affidavit. It is anticipated that DPS could incur a minimal savings associated with maintaining storage space to hold seized fireworks during the duration of court proceedings.

The Out Years

The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation. Potential revenues would continue into the future, subject to the rate of violations.



OLR Bill Analysis

sHB 7269

AN ACT CONCERNING CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECKS, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, REPEATED FALSE ALARMS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF SEIZED FIREWORKS.

SUMMARY:

This bill makes several unrelated changes. The bill:

1. limits the type of access defendants in criminal proceedings can have to child pornography material in the state's custody;

2. allows the public safety commissioner to adopt regulations to implement the criminal history record check provisions of one state and three federal laws;

3. prohibits courts from ordering that illegal fireworks be held pending final disposition of a case involving such fireworks and instead allows the court to order them destroyed after they are inventoried and photographed; and

4. establishes fines for repeated false alarms that result in a State Police response, ranging from $25 for the fourth offense to $100 for the seventh and subsequent offenses. It exempts state, municipal, and federal buildings from such fines.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2007

ACCESS TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The bill requires that, in any criminal proceedings, any property or material constituting child pornography must remain in the state's custody and control. It requires the court to deny any request by a defendant to copy, photograph, duplicate, or otherwise reproduce such material. But the state's attorney must make the material reasonably available to the defendant by providing the defendant or defendant's attorney or anyone the defendant seeks to qualify as an expert witness ample opportunity to inspect, view, or examine the material at a state facility.

Under the bill, child pornography means any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a person under age 16.

PUBLIC SAFETY REGULATIONS

This bill allows the public safety commissioner to adopt regulations to implement provisions of one state and three federal laws to provide for national criminal history record checks to determine an employee's or volunteer's suitability and fitness to care for the safety and well-being of children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

The federal laws are the 1993 National Child Protection Act, 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and 1998 Volunteers for Children Act. The state law is the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact.

FALSE ALARMS

The bill imposes fines on alarm system subscribers for emergency police response to a false alarm. Under the bill, a “subscriber” is anyone who buys, leases, or otherwise acquires an alarm system and installs it or has it installed. This includes anyone who controls the premises where the system is located. If the subscriber is not the owner of the property on which the alarm system is located, the police officer must give the property owner notice of the second false alarm.

The bill requires that the fines be waived for the first three false alarms in a calendar year. After that, the fines are as follows: fourth alarm, $25; fifth alarm, $50; sixth alarm, $75; seventh and subsequent alarms, $100. The bill gives subscribers notified of fines seven days to appeal to the State Police, which must review the appeal to determine if the circumstances justify waiving the fines and notify the subscriber of its decision in writing.

Fines are payable to the State Police and due within 30 days after the notification date or, in cases of appeal, 30 days after the date of the decision. The penalty for failing to pay by the deadline is a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.

The State Police must use the fines for the administrative costs of administering the false alarm program and for state police training and educational material.

Definitions

Alarm System. The bill defines “alarm system” as an assembly of equipment and devices arranged to signal the presence of a hazard such as unauthorized entry, an attempted robbery, or fire or smoke requiring urgent attention and to which the State Police is expected to respond. It includes holdup, burglar, audible, and fire alarms. It does not mean a system that monitors temperature or is designed solely for medical emergency notification.

False Alarm. A false alarm means activation of any alarm system (1) caused by someone motivated solely by criminal, malicious, or mischievous intent and not by a fire, criminal act, emergency, or an act of nature such as an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or storm and (2) to which the State Police respond.

FIREWORKS

Under current law, when a fire marshal seizes illegal fireworks, the Superior Court must, within 48 hours, issue a summons for the owner to show cause why the fireworks should not be judged a nuisance and destroyed. The bill instead requires the court to issue the summons expeditiously.

It also prohibits a court from requiring the seized fireworks to be stored pending final disposition of a case. It allows the court to order the fireworks destroyed after they are inventoried, photographed, and described in a sworn affidavit and makes the affidavit sufficient evidence for purposes of identifying the seized fireworks in any subsequent court proceeding.

COMMITTEE ACTION

Public Safety and Security Committee

Joint Favorable Substitute Change of Reference

Judiciary Committee

Joint Favorable