This bill proposes changes to the standard for releasing a defendant pending trial after multiple failures to appear in court. Specifically, it amends RSA 597:2, III(b)(2) to establish that if a person has failed to appear for a felony, class A misdemeanor, or impaired driving charge three or more times within the past three years (reduced from five years), or twice for the current case, there will be a rebuttable presumption against their release. This presumption suggests that release would not ensure the person's appearance in court, and as a result, the individual should be detained. However, the bill also mandates that a person detained under this presumption must be given an opportunity for a bail hearing to present evidence and potentially rebut the presumption.

The bill is set to take effect on January 1, 2025. The fiscal note attached to the bill indicates that there is an indeterminable impact on state and local expenditures, with the potential for increased county expenditures due to additional pretrial detentions. The New Hampshire Association of Counties cannot predict the exact number of individuals who may be affected but notes that the average daily cost of incarcerating an individual in county jail ranges from $105 to $125. The Judicial Branch expects the bill to have an indeterminable impact on its expenditures but does not anticipate it to be significant. No specific insertions or deletions of legal language are provided in the summary.