Memorandum 18-029 Amend HCC Minor Offenses Revision

Memorandum 18-029

To: Melissa Jacobsen, City Clerk

From:  Anmei Goldsmith

re: MINOR OFFENSE REVISION ORDINANCE
CLIENT: City of Homer

FILE NO.: 506,742.104

Date:   February 15, 2018

ISSUE – The Alaska Court System has requested several changes to the minor offense provisions in the Homer City Code to conform to state law and ensure consistency in the Code.

SOLUTION – This ordinance makes the amendments requested by the Court System.

The Court System requested that the introductory language in HCC 1.16.040, Disposition of scheduled offenses – Fine schedule, be amended to conform to state law. Specifically, the existing language incorrectly refers to payment of fines to the City of Homer and requires a defendant to respond for an optional court appearance within 15 days. This ordinance amends HCC 1.16.040 to refer to the court (instead of the City) and to set the response deadline at 30 days (instead of 15 days). The new language in HCC 1.16.040 mirrors existing fine schedule language in the animal offense section of the Code (HCC 20.32.020).

The Court System requested that all the traffic offenses be consolidated into the traffic offense fine schedule in Title 7. Currently, the general fine schedule in HCC 1.16.040 includes several offenses relating to motor vehicles in beach areas and on storm berms. The remainder of the motor vehicle offenses are listed in the traffic offense fine schedule in HCC 7.04.030. State law provides for additional penalties for offenses involving motor vehicles, which should be noted in the code section that sets the fines for these offenses. Therefore, HCC 1.16.040 is amended to delete the traffic offenses and HCC 7.04.030 is amended to add the traffic offenses that were in HCC 1.16.040.

The Court System noted that several chapters of the code contain offenses, but do not contain a section that refers to the fine schedule for that chapter or title or to the general penalty in HCC 1.16.010. The Court System requested that each chapter or title of the code that contains an offense also contain a provision referring to the appropriate fine schedule or to the general penalty section. Therefore several new sections are added, amended, and re-enacted to ensure that each chapter or title of the code contains a reference to the fine schedule and the general penalty in HCC 1.16.010, and also states that a defendant must appear in court on an offense that is not listed in a fine schedule.

The Court System requested that HCC 20.08.010, Animals at large, be amended to clarify the distinction between violations of that section that are punishable by payment of a fine and violations of that section that require a mandatory court appearance. Therefore a new subsection (e) is added that states that a violation of this section with zero to two prior convictions is punishable by the fine listed in the animal offenses fine schedule in HCC 20.32.020. Former subsection (e) becomes new subsection (f). Former subsection (f) becomes new subsection (g), and new subsection (g) is amended to clarify that it refers to “large animals” as defined in HCC 20.04.020.

The Court System noted an inconsistency between HCC 20.20.010 and the animal offenses fine schedule in HCC 20.32.020. HCC 20.20.010 prohibits permitting an animal to bite and provides that a violation “shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $300.00 and not more than $500.00, and the unsuspended portion of the fine shall not be less than $100.00.” This is inconsistent with the fine schedule in HCC 20.32.020, which includes a line for HCC 20.20.010, and sets the fine amount at $200. This inconsistency is resolved by amending the animal offenses fine schedule in HCC 20.32.020 to delete the line referring to HCC 20.20.010.