SB 363 — Relating to: falsely reporting an emergency and providing a penalty.

- 2020 LEGISLATURE LRBs0165/1LRB-0767/1 MLJ:cjsMLJ:cdc SENATE SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT 1, TO SENATE BILL 363 NovemberAugust 22, 2019 - OfferedIntroduced by SenatorOWLESSenators andOWLES, WANGGAARD ., BEWLEY, ACQUE , M ARKLEIN, NASS, OLSEN and L .TAYLOR, cosponsored by Representatives VORPAGEL , DUCHOW , ANDERSON , BRANDTJEN, BROSTOFF, D ITTRIC, EDMING , G UNDRUM , JAMES, M URPHY, NOVAK, P LUMER, SINICK, SKOWRONSKI , TITTL, VRUWINK , THIESFELDT, BORN and W ICHGERS.

Referred to Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.

swattingfalsely reporting an emergency and providing a penalty.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau Under this bill, it is a Class I felony to engage in the behavior known as “swatting,” which means falsely reporting an emergency to a public safety entity, knowing that no emergency exists, with the intent to elicit a response from an emergency response team.

In addition, under the bill, it is a Class H felony to engage in swatting if the incident results in physical harm to any person.

Under current law, certain false emergency reports result in a fine or a misdemeanor conviction, depending on the circumstances of the report.

A false report of a bomb threat or a threat to release a harmful substance is a Class I felony, and a false terrorist threat is a Class G felony.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.

SECTIONS ECTION 1.

947.014 Swatting.Falsely reporting an emergency.

(a)- “Authorized2020 emergencyLegislature vehicle”- has2 the- meaningLRB-0767/1 givenMLJ:cdc inSENATE s.BILL 363 S ECTION 1 (a) “Emergency” means any of the following:

340.01 (3).

(b) “Emergency” means any of the following:

A condition that results in or could result in the response of a lawpublic enforcementofficial officer, tribal law enforcement officer, state-certified commission warden, fire fighter, emergency medical responder, or emergency medical services practitioner in an authorized emergency vehicle, aircraft, or vessel.

A condition that jeopardizes or could jeopardize public safety and results in or could result in the evacuation of any area, building, structure, vehicle, or vehicle.other place that an individual may enter.

LRBs0165/1(b) -“Swatting” 2020means Legislatureknowingly -falsely 2reporting -to MLJ:cjsany SECTIONpublic 1safety (c)entity “Emergencythat medicalan responder”emergency hasexists, with the meaningintent givento inelicit s.a response from any public safety entity's emergency response team.

256.01(2) (4p).Whoever commits an act of swatting is guilty of a Class I felony.

(d) “Emergency medical services practitioner” has the meaning given in s.

256.01 (5).

(e) “Fire fighter” has the meaning given in s.

102.475 (8) (b).

(f) “Law enforcement agency” has the meaning given in s.

165.77 (1) (b).

(g) “Law enforcement officer” has the meaning given in s.

165.85 (2) (c).

(h) “Specialized tactical team” means a special weapons and tactics team or a tactical response team that is designated by a law enforcement agency and whose members are recruited, selected, trained, equipped, and assigned to resolve critical incidents that involve a threat to public safety.

(i) “Tribal law enforcement officer” has the meaning given in s.

165.92 (1) (b).

(2) Whoever, knowing the information is false, intentionally conveys, or causes to be conveyed, any false information that an emergency exists is guilty of a Class I felony if the information elicits, or could elicit, a response from a specialized tactical team.

(2) is guilty of a Class H felony if the violation resulted in bodilyphysical harm to any person or a Class E felony if the violation resulted in great bodily harm to any person.