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NH SB15
Bill
Status
3/28/2025
Primary Sponsor
William Gannon
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AI Summary
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Establishes a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment for manufacturing, selling, or dispensing fentanyl class drugs (including adulterants or dilutants) when death results from injection, inhalation, or ingestion of the substance
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Maintains existing penalties for distribution of other Schedule I or II controlled drugs (methamphetamine, LSD, PCP) resulting in death, which allow imprisonment for life or other court-ordered term without a mandatory minimum
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Applies strict liability standard, meaning the person who distributed the drug is legally responsible for resulting deaths regardless of intent
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Specifies that the victim's own purposeful, knowing, reckless, or negligent use of the substance, or consent to its administration, is not a valid defense
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Takes effect January 1, 2026, with indeterminable fiscal impact on state and county expenditures related to incarceration costs
Legislative Description
Relative to incorporating hard labor as a sentencing option for capital murder and serious sexual assaults on children, defining hard labor, establishing medical exemptions and penalties for abuse thereof, providing alternative punitive measures for legitimate medical exemptions, and authorizing jury determination of hard labor in qualifying cases.
Last Action
Special Order to the Present Time, Without Objection, Motion Adopted; 02/05/2026; Senate Journal 3
2/5/2026