Idaho § 18-3313A - FALSE REPORTS OF VIOLENCE OR EMERGENCY IN PUBLIC OR PRIVATE PLACES - PENALTY

§ 18-3313A. FALSE REPORTS OF VIOLENCE OR EMERGENCY IN PUBLIC OR PRIVATE PLACES - PENALTY

(1) Excluding explosives as set forth in section 18-3313 , Idaho Code, any person who reports, or causes any report to be made, to any police officer, sheriff, employee of a police department or sheriff’s office, employee of a 911 communications system or emergency vehicle dispatch center, employee of a fire department or fire service, prosecuting attorney, newspaper, radio station, television station, deputy sheriff, deputy prosecuting attorney, member of the state police, employee of an airline, employee of an airport, employee of a railroad or bus line, employee of a telephone company, occupants of a building, employee of a school district, or news reporter in the employ of a newspaper or radio or television station that an emergency exists in a public or private place, knowing that the report is false, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed one (1) year or a fine of no more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both.

(2) A person is guilty of a felony and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed five (5) years or a fine of no more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or both, if:

(a) The damages caused by a violation of this section exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000); or

(b) Any person suffers great bodily harm, permanent disfigurement, or permanent disability due to a violation of this section.

(3) A person is guilty of a felony and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed ten (10) years and shall be fined in an amount no more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) if a violation of this section results in the death of any person.

(4) For purposes of this section, "private place" or "private places" shall include but are not limited to:

(a) Habitation, including but not limited to any building, inhabitable structure, or conveyance of any kind, whether the building, inhabitable structure, or conveyance is temporary or permanent, mobile or immobile, including a tent, and is designed to be occupied by people lodging at night, and includes a dwelling in which a person resides either temporarily or permanently or is visiting as an invited guest, and includes the curtilage of any such dwelling;

(b) A place of business or employment, including but not limited to a commercial enterprise or establishment owned by a person as all or part of the person’s livelihood or that is under the owner’s control or under control of an employee or agent of the owner with responsibility for protecting persons and property and shall include the interior and exterior premises of the place of business or employment;

(c) A vehicle, including but not limited to any motorized vehicle that is self-propelled and designed for use on public highways to transport people or property; and

(d) Any other place, area, structure, enclosure, or location where a person retains, or is otherwise provided with, the expectation of privacy pursuant to state law, including political subdivisions thereof, or federal or constitutional law.

[18-3313A, added 2025, ch. 32, sec. 3, p. 168.]