While the majority of the legislature’s work this year was focused on the budget problems facing our state, there were some important changes made to laws which affect the prosecution of criminal cases. I have selected some of the more important ones to summarize.

The penalty for the crime of Vehicular Homicide has been increased to a range equal to that of First Degree Manslaughter. This is only for Vehicular Homicide by driving while impaired, not for that of reckless or careless driving. It increases the range for a person with no prior record from the current 31 to 41 months to 81 to 103 months.

There is also a 12 month sentence enhancement to a conviction for Vehicular Homicide or Vehicular Assault or Felony DUI if there is a child under 16 years present in the vehicle. Law Enforcement is required to note whether there is such a child present and notify Child Protective Services.

All higher education employees, including academic and athletic department employees and student employees are now included as mandatory child abuse reporters. They are required to report reasonable suspicions of child abuse or neglect to supervisors, who are mandatory reporters.

School districts are not required to file truancy petitions for truant students who are 17 years old. There were a few other small changes to truancy laws.

Theft of metal wire from a public service company now includes the cost of the damages done to the building in removing the metal wire. The amount of damages caused can be added to the value of the wire in meeting the value element. This is a good change because thousands of dollars of damage can be caused by removing a few dollars worth of wire. I wonder why this change is limited to public service companies and not a theft from any person or company.

Law Enforcement agencies are no longer liable for bites from a police dog so long as those bites are applied in the line of duty. There is also an increase in the fines imposed for harming or killing a police dog. I guess that this change was made because someone was bitten by a police dog and then sued the agency because of the bite. No recovery for police dog bites.