HB 138: "An Act relating to crime stoppers organizations; to information received by crime stoppers organizations and to the issuance of search warrants based upon that information; and amending Alaska Rule of Criminal Procedure 37 and Alaska Rule of Evidence 509."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 138 01 "An Act relating to crime stoppers organizations; to information received by crime 02 stoppers organizations and to the issuance of search warrants based upon that 03 information; and amending Alaska Rule of Criminal Procedure 37 and Alaska 04 Rule of Evidence 509." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. INTENT. It is the intent of the Alaska State Legislature to foster the 07 detection 08 of crime and encourage persons to report information about criminal acts; to ensure that 09 persons reporting alleged criminal acts to a crime stoppers organization retain their anonymity; 10 and, to ensure that the reports of alleged criminal activity obtained by crime stoppers 11 organizations are useful to the police and prosecutors in apprehending and prosecuting 12 criminals, it is the specific intent of the legislature to eliminate any higher standard of scrutiny 13 for information received from a crime stoppers program and to provide that the citizen 14 informant standard be applied to crime stoppers tips for the purpose of issuing search
01 warrants. 02 * Sec. 2. AS 12.35 is amended by adding new sections to read: 03 Sec. 12.35.022. SEARCH WARRANTS. (a) Notwithstanding another 04 provision of law, when considering whether to issue a search warrant, information 05 received from a crime stoppers organization, after some details of the information have 06 been verified by law enforcement, shall be given the same presumption of reliability 07 afforded to information received from a named citizen informant. In this subsection, 08 "crime stoppers organization" has the meaning given in AS 45.68.900. 09 (b) Nothing in this section prohibits a court from applying the named citizen 10 informant presumption of reliability to other informants or information or in other 11 contexts or situations. 12 Sec. 12.35.023. IN CAMERA REVIEW OF CRIME STOPPERS 13 INFORMATION. A person charged with a crime may petition the court for an in 14 camera inspection of any law records of a privileged communication concerning the 15 person made to a crime stoppers organization that were provided by the organization 16 to law enforcement and that were used by law enforcement to obtain a search warrant. 17 The inspection petition must allege facts showing that the records sought would 18 provide evidence favorable to the defendant and relevant to the issue of guilt or 19 punishment. If the court determines after a review of the records that the person is 20 entitled to all or part of the records, the court may order the records to be provided to 21 the person only after the removal of any crime stoppers informant code numbers, 22 names, or other information that might tend to disclose the identity of the informant. 23 In this section, "crime stoppers organization" has the meaning given in AS 45.68.900. 24 * Sec. 3. AS 45.68.120(a) is amended to read: 25 (a) Registration is not required under AS 45.68.010 for 26 (1) a church or religious organization that is exempt from filing a 27 federal annual information return under 26 U.S.C. 6033(a)(2)(A); 28 (2) a candidate for national, state, or local office, and a political party 29 or other committee or group if the candidate, party, committee, or group is required 30 to file financial information with the Alaska Public Offices Commission under 31 AS 15.13 or with the Federal Election Commission under 2 U.S.C. 431 - 456 (Federal
01 Election Campaign Act); 02 (3) a charitable organization that does not intend to raise or receive 03 contributions, excluding government grants, in excess of $5,000 during a fiscal year 04 of the charitable organization, or that does not intend to receive contributions from 05 more than 10 persons during a fiscal year of the charitable organization if, in either 06 situation, 07 (A) all of the organization's functions, including solicitation, are 08 performed by persons who are not paid for their services; and 09 (B) an officer or member of the organization is not paid or does 10 not otherwise receive all or a part of the assets or income of the charitable 11 organization; 12 (4) a person or municipality who has a permit under AS 05.15.100; 13 (5) a crime stoppers organization. 14 * Sec. 4. AS 45.68.900 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 15 (7) "crime stoppers organization" means a private, nonprofit corporation 16 incorporated under the laws of the state and recognized by the United States Treasury, 17 Internal Revenue Service, under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) or similar provisions of the 18 Internal Revenue Code, that is exempt from the reporting requirements of 26 U.S.C. 19 501(a), that operates by a volunteer board of directors comprised of members of the 20 community who are not peace officers, and that accepts and disperses donations 21 principally for administrative costs and training and for rewards, when requested, to 22 persons who report to the organization information concerning alleged or suspected 23 criminals or criminal activity, and the information results in the arrest or indictment 24 of the person committing the crime or otherwise results in closing the case or in the 25 recovery or confiscation of stolen property, contraband, or illegal controlled substances, 26 or the location of a person wanted for an outstanding felony arrest warrant that leads 27 to the arrest or apprehension of a person, or otherwise results in closing the case. 28 * Sec. 5. AS 12.35.022 and 12.35.023, added by sec. 2 of this Act, have the effect of 29 amending Alaska Rule of Criminal Procedure 37 and Alaska Rule of Evidence 509, relating 30 to the informants in criminal cases and the review of search warrants.