House of Representatives

SB 1198

criminal nuisance; unlawful substances

Sponsors: Senator Richardson; Representative Voss:

Senators Guenther, Mitchell et al.

 

DPA
S/E

Committee on Judiciary

X

Committee on Retirement and Government Operations

 

Caucus and COW

 

Third Read

 

 

As Passed the House

 

SB 1198 makes it unlawful to knowingly use or maintain any premises where persons under the age of 21 years gather and use illegal drugs.

 

Current Status

SB 1198 was amended with a strike-everything amendment in the Judiciary Committee that establishes the new crime of aggravated criminal nuisance and makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for an owner, leaseholder or person with legal privilege to control the premises to knowingly maintain a place where people use, possess, manufacture, sell or transfer illegal drugs.  The amendment states that an owner, leaseholder or person with legal privilege to control the premises has notice of the nuisance after three written notices of violations and provides that a third or subsequent violation is a Class 6 felony.

 

History

Under current law, a person creates a criminal nuisance by recklessly creating or maintaining a condition that endangers the safety or health of others or by knowingly maintaining any premises where persons gather for the purpose of engaging in unlawful conduct.  Criminal nuisance is a Class 3 misdemeanor (up to 30 days jail/up to $500 fine).

 

Provisions

A Strike-Everything Amendment to SB 1198 will be offered in the Retirement and Government Operations Committee with the following provisions (note: the same Strike-Everything Amendment was previously offered in the Judiciary Committee):

·          Stipulates that an owner, leaseholder or a person with legal control of a property is guilty of aggravated criminal nuisance if the person knowingly uses or maintains premises where persons unlawfully use, possess, manufacture, sell or transfer illegal drugs.

 

·          Stipulates that the owner, leaseholder or person with legal control of the property has notice of the nuisance if that person has received governmental notice of one or more documented reports of criminal offenses involving a controlled substance on the property and the owner or responsible party failed to take reasonable and legally available action to abate the nuisance.

 

·          Stipulates that an owner, leaseholder or person with legal control of the property is deemed to have notice of the nuisance if the owner refuses notice.

 

·          Stipulates that a person who commits aggravated criminal nuisance is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor (up to 6 months jail/up to $2,500 fine) and a person who is guilty of a third or subsequent violation is guilty of a Class 6 felony (1 year prison/up to $150,000 fine).

 

Amendments

The strike-everything amendment was adopted by the Judiciary Committee and was further amended as follows:

·          Requires the state to prove that the owner, leaseholder or person with legal privilege to control the property knew of the nuisance and received notice of three or more offenses on different days.

 

 

 

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45th Legislature                       

Second Regular Session            2          April 18, 2002

 

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