Legislature(1999 - 2000)
03/27/2000 02:18 PM Senate JUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 26-FALSE INFORMATION/REPORT TO POLICE
MR. MIKE PAULEY, staff to Senator Leman, offered a brief overview
of SB 26, and then discussed the blank committee substitute that
Senator Leman is recommending the Judiciary Committee adopt in lieu
of the original bill. Mr. Pauley read the following statement:
Briefly, SB 26 proposes a new crime of giving false
information to a police officer in the first and second
degrees.
If a person knowingly gives false information about their
identity while under arrest or detention or being served a
warrant for a felony offense, they can be charged with false
information or report in the first degree. That is designated
in the bill as a class C felony.
On the other hand, if a person knowingly provides false
identity information while under arrest or detention or being
served a warrant for a misdemeanor offense, or while being
issued a citation, that person can be charged with false
information or report in the second degree. This is
designated as a class A misdemeanor.
This is the basic summary of the original bill. During last
year's hearing in this committee, several concerns were raised
about this legislation, and we believe we have addressed all
those concerns in the blank CS.
The first concern, raised by the Department of Law, was that
the class C felony designation was disproportionate. It was
noted that resisting or interfering with arrest [AS 11.56.700]
is arguably more serious than lying. Yet resisting or
interfering with arrest is designated as a class A
misdemeanor, and this is the case regardless of whether the
person is being arrested for a felony or a misdemeanor. In
the blank CS, we have changed the bill to follow this model.
The blank CS creates a single crime of providing false
information to a peace officer, and this is a class A
misdemeanor under all circumstances.
A second issue was raised by some committee members and also
a representative of the Alaska State Troopers. The concern
was that the bill was too narrow because the false information
crime kicks in only if the false information is provided while
the person is under arrest or detention, or being served a
warrant or issued a citation. It was pointed out that false
information could be provided to a peace officer while
conducting an investigation, and this would not be covered
under this bill.
The blank CS expands the scope of the bill considerably, and
the new language can be found on the letter "H" draft in your
packets, on page 2, lines 11 through 13. This new language
states that the crime of false information has been committee
if a person, "having committed a crime, knowingly gives false
information to a peace officer with the intent of avoiding
apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment."
The final change included in the CS is an amendment to our
existing statute on hindering prosecution. This can be found
in section 1 of the blank CS, letter "H" draft, page 1, lines
4 through 12.
This statute makes it a crime to render assistance to another
person who has committed a crime, with the intent of hindering
the apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of
that person.
The definition of rendering assistance to another includes
using deception to obstruct the discovery or apprehension of
that person. Accordingly, if a person lies to a police
officer in an effort to obstruct the apprehension of a
criminal, that is in itself a crime.
However, there is a catch. Under the terms of our existing
law, this would apply only if the person lies to prevent
apprehension of a person who has committed a crime that is
punishable by imprisonment of greater than 90 days. This
effectively means that all class B misdemeanors are not
covered under existing law. Class B misdemeanors include such
offenses as disorderly conduct, harassment, misconduct
involving weapons in the fifth degree, and criminal mischief
in the fourth degree.
While these may not be the most serious offenses on the books,
they do consume a great deal of police time. It does not seem
appropriate for state law to sanction lying to a police
officer under these circumstances. The blank CS removes the
exception for class B misdemeanors, so that the statute
applies to all crimes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if Senator Leman had considered making it a
crime to file false information to the legislature.
MR. PAULEY responded that idea had not been considered.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR moved to adopt CSSB 26 (JUD), version H, dated
3/16/00, as the working document of the committee. There being no
objection, CSSB 26 (JUD) was adopted.
Number 445
SENATOR HALFORD asked about Section 2(4), knowingly makes a false
report to the Department of Natural Resources under AS 46.17
concerning the condition of a dam or reservoir; or, wondering how
this subsection came about.
MR. PAULEY responded that last year Senator Halford had informed
him this section was an ill-advised piece of legislation that had
been adopted by the legislature several years ago.
SENATOR HALFORD moved to delete subsection (4). There being no
objection, subsection (4) was deleted.
SENATOR HALFORD moved CSSB 26 (JUD)am out of committee with
individual recommendations. There being no objection, the motion
carried.
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