Bill to increase fines for dog nuisance, require owners to pay victims’ medical costs draws victims’ testimony

Representative Len Turcotte introduced HB 670 to the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying sponsors sought to update long-outdated fines for dog-related tax and nuisance violations and to make owners automatically liable for medical costs resulting from an attack. “The goal was to do 2 things. 1 was to up those fines to act as a deterrent and, also, update them,” Turcotte said, adding that OLS advised limits so that the revised fines remained misdemeanors rather than elevating some violations to felonies.

Anne Berry of Rochester testified in support, describing a December 2023 Christmas-day attack on her adult daughter and the family dog. Berry said her daughter required months of rehabilitation and that combined costs for the daughter and the dog were about $30,000; civil proceedings produced a $10,000 judgment in favor of her daughter, which Berry said the owner was not paying. “People need to be responsible, and face financial impact, at the very least,” Berry said.

Marissa Chase, representing the New Hampshire Association for Justice (civil plaintiff lawyers), asked the committee to add a clarifying subsection to ensure the new language does not unintentionally limit civil claims under existing RSA sections typically cited in dog-bite civil suits; she offered to submit drafting language to the committee.

Representative Turcotte said the house amended the bill to change the first-offense penalty from a $25 fine to a warning, and otherwise left the proposed increases intact. Committee members asked few substantive questions at the hearing; there is no committee vote recorded in the provided transcript.