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Sponsor seeks stiffer penalty for knowingly filing false complaints against law enforcement
Summary
Representative Dennis Manion described a bill to add two separate offenses for knowingly filing false reports against law enforcement, increasing penalties in certain cases.
Representative Dennis Manion told the Judiciary Committee he refiled language from last year to split penalties for knowingly filing false reports against law enforcement into two parts: a misdemeanor for false allegations of officer misconduct and a higher class A misdemeanor for knowingly reporting criminal conduct that did not occur.
"What this bill does is it adds a 2 separate parts to the statute, for filing a false report against the law enforcement officer... The second part... would be a class a misdemeanor," Manion said, explaining he increased the penalty for knowingly filing false criminal allegations.
Committee members asked whether the bill would chill legitimate complaints. Manion said knowingly is a "pretty high bar" and would not apply to unfounded but honest reports. "Knowingly is a pretty high bar. The person is aware that they're falsifying it," he said.
Senators discussed the phrase "baseless information" in the draft; Manion indicated he would be willing to remove the term and rely on "false" or "knowingly false" conduct instead.
No committee vote on the bill was recorded in the provided transcript; the hearing concluded without formal action on this item during the excerpt provided.
