New Hampshire Legislation (02/11/2010)

NEW HAMPSHIRE TIMBERLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION 2010 LEGISLATIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE WORK

Currently NHTOA is actively monitoring or lobbying 71 bills before the New Hampshire Legislature. The topics of interest range from how Current Use tax assessments would be performed to the regulation of activities around wetlands. The following two bills are of particular interest to our members;

House Bill 1544– AN ACT relative to penalties for forestry violations – This bill was filed upon NHTOA’s request, it enables the commissioner of the department of resources and economic development (i.e. state forester) to escalate the penalty schedule for forestry violations in situations where the individual committing the violation is a habitual offender. NHTOA has been working on this bill with the department of resources and economic development and several NH environmental groups to insure it will penalize only those individuals who have a long record of breaking NH’s forestry laws. The bill allows the commissioner to assess a penalty up to $10,000 per violations once the individual has attained habitual offender status. The standards for attaining habitual offender status will be defined through rules in a similar manner to how other agencies treat habitual offenders (e.g. traffic violations). (CLICK HERE FOR TEXT)

This bill has passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives and now moves to the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee for a hearing later this month.

House Bill 222- AN ACT relative to fill and dredge permits in wetlands. – NHTOA joined the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and a broad coalition of landowner and business interests to have this bill committed to a study commission. As written, House Bill 222 states NHDES “may” consider the impacts from non-wetland portions of a project and impacts from the project’s construction and post-construction and maintenance when issuing a wetlands dredge and fill permit. NHTOA opposed this bill on two principles. First, the bill’s use of the word “may” is open to interpretation and adds a level of ambiguity to our current wetlands laws. Second, NHTOA and a broad group of interested parties are already participating on a Legislative Study Commission studying the issue of upland land use impacts to wetlands and the filing of this bill usurps the Commission’s efforts. We believe the process of engaging the stakeholders and developing a consensus solution is the best way to proceed. (CLICK HERE FOR TEXT)

NHTOA will continue its participation on the upland land use impacts study commission. We can expect to see a legislative proposal next year.

2010 ADMINISTRATIVE RULES
All New Hampshire State agencies operate in accordance to specific rules and regulations. The rules and regulations are developed with the guidance of laws passed by the Legislature. Within the last six months there are two rule changes of particular importance to our members who own land and harvest/process timber.

New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services’ (NHDES) - Stream Crossing Rules
Earlier this month the NHDES released new rules dictating how loggers, landowners and foresters can cross streams and wetlands on their forest management projects. These rules are the product of over two years of input from various stakeholders including NHTOA.

We are happy to report the rules treat forestry favorably by not layering any additional regulations on forest management projects (permitting requirements nor in-field operational requirements) and in two instances the rules are cutting the bureaucratic red-tape associated with certain types of crossings and providing more options for individuals seeking to cross a steam. Specifically, the new rules make it very clear that if the stream is less than eight feet wide the applicant can permit a permanent crossing provided it is for forest manamgent and all Best Management Practices are followed. Secondly, the new rules allow the temporary placement of a support pier under a bridge (one for every 15 feet of span) under a forestry minimum impact permit.

Current Use Board – Forestland Assessment
For over three years the Current use Board has been updating the model used to calculate New Hampshire’s Current Use assessment tax rates for forestland. NHTOA has been very involved in this process, working to insure the model is accurate and uses the best and most current data.

Last spring NHTOA successfully lobbied to have the model phased-in so the shifts in assessment rates would be gradually felt by the tax payers and municipalities. This year NHTOA discovered a significant short-coming in the model resulting in an over assessment of New Hampshire’s white pine timberlands. Although NHTOA was not successful in getting the required changes incorporated for this tax year the Current Use Board committed to working on this issue over the summer so next year’s tax assessment would more accurately reflect the true value of our timberlands.

The following table illustrates the current and proposed changes to New Hampshire’s Current Use tax assessment rates,