House Bill NO. 995

By Senator(s) Committee

SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person to report a crime or any element of a crime to any law enforcement officer or any officer of any court, by any means, knowing that such report is false. A violation of this section shall be punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one (1) year or by fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both. In addition to any fine and imprisonment, and upon proper showing made to the court, the defendant shall be ordered to pay as restitution to the law enforcement agency reimbursement for any reasonable costs directly related to the investigation of the falsely reported crime and the prosecution of any person convicted under this section.

SECTION 2. Section 19-5-317, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

19-5-317. (1) When there is not an emergency, no person shall make a telephone call to an emergency telephone service and knowingly or intentionally:

(a) Remain silent;

(b) Make abusive or harassing statements to an emergency telephone service employee;

(c) Report the existence of an emergency; or

(d) Falsely report a crime.

(2) No person shall knowingly permit a telephone under his control to be used by another person in a manner described in subsection (1) of this section.

(3) Conviction of a first offense under this section is punishable by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or by imprisonment for a period of time not to exceed one (1) year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Conviction of any subsequent offense under this section is punishable by a fine not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or by imprisonment for a period of time not to exceed three (3) years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(4) For the purpose of this section, "emergency telephone service" shall mean a service established under Section 19-5-301 et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, or established under the provisions of a local and private act enacted prior to October 20, 1987.

(5) The penalty provided for in this section shall be in addition to the penalty provided in Section 1 of House Bill No. 995, 2000 Regular Session.

SECTION 3. (1) As used in this section, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(a) "Home repair" means the fixing, replacing, altering, converting, modernizing, improving of or the making of an addition to any real property primarily designed or used as a residence.

(i) Home repair shall include the construction, installation, replacement or improvement of driveways, swimming pools, porches, kitchens, chimneys, chimney liners, garages, fences, fallout shelters, central air conditioning, central heating, boilers, furnaces, hot water heaters, electrical wiring, sewers, plumbing fixtures, storm doors, storm windows, awnings and other improvements to structures within the residence or upon the land adjacent thereto.

(ii) Home repair shall not include the sale, installation, cleaning or repair of carpets; the sale of goods or materials by a merchant who does not directly or through a subsidiary perform any work or labor in connection with the installation or application of the goods or materials; the repair, installation, replacement or connection of any home appliance including, but not limited to, disposals, refrigerators, ranges, garage door openers, television antennas, washing machines, telephones or other home appliances when the person replacing, installing, repairing or connecting such home appliance is an employee or agent of the merchant that sold the home appliance; or landscaping.

(b) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, business, trust or other legal entity.

(c) "Residence" means a single or multiple family dwelling, including, but not limited to, a single family home, apartment building, condominium, duplex, townhouse or mobile home which is used or intended to be used by its occupants as their dwelling place.

(2) A person commits the offense of home repair fraud when he knowingly:

(a) Enters into an agreement or contract, written or oral, with a person for home repair, and he knowingly:

(i) Misrepresents a material fact relating to the terms of the contract or agreement or the preexisting or existing condition of any portion of the property involved, or creates or confirms another's impression which is false and which he does not believe to be true, or promises performance which he does not intend to perform or knows will not be performed;

(ii) Uses or employs any deception, false pretense or false promises in order to induce, encourage or solicit such person to enter into any contract or agreement;

(iii) Misrepresents or conceals either his real name, the name of his business, or his business address; or

(iv) Uses deception, coercion or force to obtain the victim's consent to modification of the terms of the original contract or agreement.

(b) Damages the property of a person with the intent to enter into an agreement or contract for home repair; or

(c) Misrepresents himself or another to be an employee or agent of any unit of the federal, state or municipal government or any other governmental unit, or an employee or agent of any public utility, with the intent to cause a person to enter into, with himself or another, any contract or agreement for home repair.

(4) Intent and knowledge shall be determined by an evaluation of all circumstances surrounding a transaction and the determination shall not be limited to the time of contract or agreement.

(5) Substantial performance shall not include work performed in a manner of little or no value or work that fails to comply with the appropriate municipal, county, state or federal regulations or codes.

(6) Violation of this section shall be punished as follows:

(a) By imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections not to exceed two (2) years when the amount of the fraud is more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) but less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00).

(b) By imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections not to exceed five (5) years when the amount of the fraud is Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or more but less than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00).

(c) By imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections not to exceed ten (10) years when the amount of the fraud is Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or more.

(d) As a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six (6) months when the amount of the fraud is One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or less.

(3) In addition to any other sentence it may impose, the court shall order that the defendant shall make restitution to the victim, either within a specified period of time or in specified installments. The order shall not be enforceable during the period of imprisonment unless the court expressly finds that the defendant has assets to pay the amounts ordered at the time of sentencing. Intentional refusal to obey the restitution order or a failure by a defendant to make a good faith effort to make such restitution may be considered a violation of the defendant's probation and may be cause for revocation of his probation or suspension of sentence.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2000.

AN ACT TO CREATE THE CRIME OF FALSE REPORTING OF A CRIME AND PRESCRIBE PENALTIES THEREFOR; TO AMEND SECTION 19-5-317, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; TO CREATE THE OFFENSE OF HOME REPAIR FRAUD; TO ENACT EXCEPTIONS; TO ENACT DEFINITIONS; TO PRESCRIBE THE ELEMENTS OF THE OFFENSE AND THE PUNISHMENT THEREFOR; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.