This story was originally produced by the Keene Sentinel. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
A tentative deal in the works in a New Hampshire House committee offers a compromise between Democrats, Republicans and various interest groups on the contentious issue of bail reform.
Several pieces of legislation on the matter did not advance in this year’s legislative session amid concerns over public safety on the one hand and the civil liberties of arrestees on the other.
The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee has been trying to hammer out a bill to be considered after lawmakers reconvene in January.
Rep. Terry Roy, a Republican from Deerfield, the chairman of that panel, described the broad outlines of the reform proposal when the committee met Wednesday.
It would require arrestees to get a bail hearing within 24 hours of being taken into custody, fund an electronic system allowing police to get bail information from the court and provide more training for bail commissioners.
It also would require that victims be allowed to be heard at any bail hearing and that an attempt be made to advise them of an arrestee’s release at least an hour before it occurs.
Another requirement would be for electronic monitoring of people out on bail in some domestic violence cases.
Rep. Jennifer Rhodes, a Republican from Winchester, who is also on the committee, said it is heartening to see lawmakers of different political stripes and groups with different agendas reach consensus on bail reform.
“This isn’t being written for one group of people or for the bail commissioners or for one specific county, it is being written for every single citizen of the state of New Hampshire,” she said in an interview Friday.
“There’s something in there for everybody. There are things in there that I don’t like. And there’s also things the Democrats don’t like, but there’s also things that we all could agree upon.”
Rep. David Meuse, a Democrat from Portsmouth, who is also on the committee, said people on the far right and far left of the political spectrum seem to have come together on this proposal.
“The fact that we have so many people now who are on the same page is really encouraging,” he said.
The official legislative language for the proposal is still being written for consideration of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee this coming Wednesday.
If the panel votes in favor of it, the measure would be sent on to the full House to be considered next year. If it passes the House and Senate, the bill would go to the governor to be signed into law.
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