View Bill Status
View Bill Text
View Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact
S1275................................................by JUDICIARY AND RULES PUBLIC FUNDS - MISUSE - Amends and repeals existing law to revise provisions applicable to the misuse of public moneys by public officers and public employees; and to provide grading and punishment for misuse of funds. 01/15 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing 01/16 Rpt prt - to Jud
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]] Fifty-ninth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2008IN THE SENATE SENATE BILL NO. 1275 BY JUDICIARY AND RULES COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS; AMENDING SECTION 18-5701, IDAHO CODE, TO 3 REVISE PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO THE MISUSE OF PUBLIC MONEYS BY PUBLIC 4 OFFICERS AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES; AMENDING SECTION 18-5702, IDAHO CODE, TO 5 PROVIDE GRADING AND PUNISHMENT FOR MISUSE OF FUNDS AND TO DELETE THE CRIME 6 OF FAILURE TO KEEP AND PAY OVER MONEY; AMENDING SECTION 18-5703, IDAHO 7 CODE, TO REVISE DEFINITIONS; REPEALING SECTION 18-5704, IDAHO CODE, RELAT- 8 ING TO FAILURE OF AN OFFICER TO ACCOUNT FOR FINES AND COSTS; AMENDING SEC- 9 TION 19-403, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE A STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR MISUSE OF 10 FUNDS; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. 11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 12 SECTION 1. That Section 18-5701, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 13 amended to read as follows: 14 18-5701. MISUSE OF PUBLIC MONEYS BY PUBLIC OFFICERS AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES. 15EachNo public officerof this state, or of any county, city, town or district16of this state, and every other person charged with the receipt, safekeeping,17transfer or disbursement of public moneys, whoor public employee shall: 18 (1) Without authority of law, appropriates the samepublic moneys or any 19 portion thereof to his own use, or to the use of another; or 20 (2) Loans the samepublic moneys or any portion thereof; or, having the 21 possession or control of any public moneys, makesa profit, directly or indi- 22 rectly out of public moneys, or uses the samepublic moneys for any purpose 23 not authorized by law; or 24 (3) Failsto keepthe samepublic moneys in his possession until dis- 25 bursed or paid out by authority of law when legally required to do so; or 26 (4) Deposits the samepublic moneys or any portion thereof in any bank, 27 or with any banker or other person, otherwise than on special deposit, or as 28 otherwise authorized by law; or 29 (5) Changesor convertspublic moneys or any portion thereof from coin 30 into currency, or from currency into coin or other currency, without authority 31 of law; or 32 (6) Knowingly keepsany false account, or makesany false entry or era- 33 sure in any account of or relating tothe samepublic moneys; or 34(7) Ffraudulently alters,falsifiesfalsify, conceals, destroysor oblit- 35 eratesany such account; or 36 (87) Willfully refusesor omitsto pay over, on demand, any public moneys 37 in his hands, upon the presentation of a draft, order or warrant drawn upon 38 such public moneys by competent authority; or 39 (98) Willfully omitsto transferthe samepublic moneys when such trans- 40 fer is required by law; or 41 (109) Willfully omitsor refusesto pay over to any public officer, 42 employee or person authorized by law to receive the same, any public moneys 43 received by him under any duty imposed by law so to pay over the same; or 2 1 (110) Knowingly usesany public moneys, or financial transaction card, 2 financial transaction card account number or credit accountthat isissued to 3 or for the benefit of anypublicgovernmental entity, office or agencyto make 4 any purchase, loan, guarantee or advance of moneys for any personal purpose or 5 for any purpose other than for the use or benefit of thepublicgovernmental 6 entity, office or agency;7Is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than one (1)8year nor more than ten (10) years, and is disqualified from holding any office9in this state. 10 SECTION 2. That Section 18-5702, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 11 amended to read as follows: 12 18-5702.FAILURE TO KEEP AND PAY OVER MONEYGRADING AND PUNISHMENT FOR 13 MISUSE OF FUNDS.Every officer charged with the receipt, safe keeping or dis-14bursement of public moneys who neglects or fails to keep and pay over the same15in the manner prescribed by law, is guilty of felony(1) Any public employee 16 who is not charged with the receipt, safekeeping or disbursement of public 17 moneys and who misuses public moneys in violation of section 18-5701, Idaho 18 Code, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding one thou- 19 sand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one 20 (1) year, or by both, if the amount of public moneys misused is less than 21 three hundred dollars ($300). 22 (2) Any public officer or public employee charged with the receipt, safe- 23 keeping or disbursement of public moneys, who misuses public moneys in viola- 24 tion of section 18-5701, Idaho Code, is guilty of a felony punishable by a 25 fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment in the 26 state prison for not more than five (5) years, or by both, if the amount of 27 public moneys misused is less than three hundred dollars ($300). 28 (3) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this sec- 29 tion, any public officer or public employee who misuses public moneys in 30 violation of section 18-5701, Idaho Code, is guilty of a felony punishable by 31 a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the 32 state prison for not less than one (1) year nor more than fourteen (14) years 33 or both. 34 (4) (a) When any series of violations of section 18-5701, Idaho Code, 35 comprised of separate incidents of misuse of public moneys in amounts less 36 than three hundred dollars ($300) are part of a common scheme or plan, the 37 incidents may be aggregated in one (1) count and the sum of the value of 38 all of the incidents shall be the value considered in determining whether 39 the amount exceeds three hundred dollars ($300). 40 (b) Any public officer or public employee who pleads guilty to or is 41 found guilty of a violation of section 18-5701, Idaho Code, more than one 42 (1) time, irrespective of the form of the judgment(s) or withheld 43 judgment(s), and who would otherwise be subject to a lesser punishment 44 under subsection (1) or (2) of this section is guilty of a felony punish- 45 able as provided in subsection (3) of this section. 46 (5) In addition to any penalty imposed in this section, any public offi- 47 cer or public employee who pleads guilty to or is found guilty of a violation 48 of section 18-5701, Idaho Code, irrespective of the form of the judgment(s) or 49 withheld judgment(s) shall: 50 (a) Be terminated for cause from the public office or employment subject 51 to any procedures applicable to such termination; and 52 (b) Make restitution of any public moneys misused, and any profits made 53 therefrom as ordered by the court; and 3 1 (c) Notwithstanding section 18-310, Idaho Code, and except as otherwise 2 provided by law, be disqualified from holding any position as a public 3 officer or public employee if such position is charged with the receipt, 4 safekeeping or disbursement of public moneys. 5 SECTION 3. That Section 18-5703, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 6 amended to read as follows: 7 18-5703. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter: 8 (1) "Financial transaction card" means: 9 (a) Any instrument or device known as a credit card, credit plate, bank 10 services card, banking card, check guarantee card, debit card, telephone 11 credit card or by any other name issued by the issuer for the use of the 12 cardholder in obtaining money, goods, services or anything else of value 13 on credit, or in certifying or guaranteeing to a person or business the 14 availability to the cardholder of the funds on deposit that are equal to 15 or greater than the amount necessary to honor a draft or check payable to 16 the order of such a person or business; or 17 (b) Any instrument or device used in providing the cardholder access to a 18 demand deposit account or a time deposit account for the purpose of making 19 deposits of money or checks therein, or withdrawing funds in the form of 20 money, money orders, or traveler's checks or other representative of value 21 therefrom or transferring funds from any demand account or time deposit 22 account to any credit card account in full or partial satisfaction of any 23 outstanding balance existing therein. 24 (2) "Financial transaction card account number" means the account number 25 assigned by an issuer to a financial transaction card to identify and account 26 for transactions involving that financial transaction card. 27 (3)"Officer of this state, or any county, city, town or district of this28state" includes any public servant as defined in section 18-1351, Idaho Code29 "Governmental entity" means: 30 (a) The state of Idaho, including all branches, departments, divisions, 31 agencies, boards, commissions and other governmental bodies of the state; 32 and 33 (b) Counties, cities, districts and all other political subdivisions of 34 the state of Idaho. 35 (4) "Public employee" means any person who is not a public officer and is 36 employed by a governmental entity. 37 (5) "Public moneys" includes all bonds and evidences of indebtedness, 38 fees, fines, forfeitures, and all other moneys belonging tothe state or any39city, county, town or district therein,or in the charge of a governmental 40 entity or held by a public officer or public employee in his official capac- 41 ity, and all financial transaction cards, financial transaction card account 42 numbers and credit accounts issued to or for the benefit of thestate or any43city, county, town or district therein, and all moneys, bonds and evidences of44indebtedness received or held by state, county, district, city or town offi-45cers in their official capacitygovernmental entity. 46 (6) "Public officer" means any person holding public office of a govern- 47 mental entity: 48 (a) As an elected official, by virtue of an elected process, including 49 persons appointed to a vacant elected office; or 50 (b) As an appointed official by virtue of a formal appointment as 51 required by law. 52 SECTION 4. That Section 18-5704, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 4 1 repealed. 2 SECTION 5. That Section 19-403, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 3 amended to read as follows: 4 19-403. MISDEMEANORS. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this 5 section, a prosecution for any misdemeanor must be commenced by the filing of 6 the complaint or the finding of an indictment within one (1) year after its 7 commission. 8 (2) A prosecution for failure to report or failure to cause to be 9 reported the abuse, abandonment or neglect of a child as provided for in sec- 10 tion 16-1605, Idaho Code, must be commenced by the filing of the complaint or 11 the finding of an indictment within four (4) years after its commission. 12 (3) A prosecution for misuse of funds as provided for in section 13 18-5702(3), Idaho Code, must be commenced by the filing of the complaint or 14 the finding of an indictment within five (5) years after its commission. 15 SECTION 6. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby 16 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after its 17 passage and approval.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 17482
This legislation amends Title 18, Chapter 57 of the Idaho
Code relating to the misuse of public funds. The changes will:
1. Clarify that Idaho Code section 18-5701 includes within its
scope all state and local officers and employees who have access
to public funds;
2. Set out misdemeanor and felony penalties and the persons and
violations to which they apply;
3. Adjust the statute of limitations for claims for violations
of misuse of public funds; and
4. Amend certain definitions and add a definition of "public
officer."
FISCAL NOTE
There is no fiscal impact. There will likely be an increase in
reimbursements of misused funds back to the public entities from
which they were illegally diverted.
Contact
Name: Senator Kate Kelly
Phone: 332-1351
Representative Lynn Luker
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE S 1275