HB 1701-FN-A – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
15Feb2006… 0861h
2006 SESSION
06/03
HOUSE BILL 1701-FN-A
AN ACT relative to boat fee agents of the department of safety, increasing the boat registration fee, and relative to the prevention of exotic aquatic weeds.
SPONSORS: Rep. Drisko, Hills 5
COMMITTEE: Resources, Recreation and Development
This bill:
I. Requires agents of the department of safety who collect boat fees to remit the fees to the department of safety.
II. Increases the boat registration fee.
III. Applies the increase in the boat registration fee to exotic aquatic weed control.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15Feb2006… 0861h
06-2246
06/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT relative to boat fee agents of the department of safety, increasing the boat registration fee, and relative to the prevention of exotic aquatic weeds.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Collection; Agents; Fee Remitted to Department of Safety. Amend RSA 72-A:4, I(a) to read as follows:
(a) An agent of the department of safety duly authorized to issue boat registrations under RSA 270-E. These agents shall furnish a surety bond as required in RSA 41:6 and except for the collection fee under paragraph III, shall remit all fees they collect to the department of safety;
2 Town Treasurer; Payment by Agents of the Department of Safety Removed. Amend the section heading of RSA 72-A:5 and RSA 72-A:5, I to read as follows:
72-A:5 [Town Treasurer] Disposition of Fees.
I. Every clerk[,] and tax collector[, and authorized agent] shall each week send all boat fees collected to his or her town or city treasurer. Except as provided in paragraph II, boat fees shall be for the general use of the town or city.
3 New Paragraph; Agents of the Department of Safety; Payment to Navigation Safety Fund. Amend RSA 72-A:5 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:
III. Every authorized agent of the department of safety shall each week send all boat fees collected to the department for deposit in the navigation safety fund established under RSA 270-E:6-a.
4 Increase in Boat Registration Fee for Lakes Restoration and Preservation Fund. Amend RSA 270-E:5, II(a) to read as follows:
(a) [$5] $9 for each registration specified in paragraph I. The fees collected under this subparagraph shall be paid into the lake restoration and preservation fund established under RSA 487:25.
5 Lake Restoration and Preservation Fund; Milfoil and Other Exotic Aquatic Plants Prevention Program. Amend RSA 487:25, I to read as follows:
I. The fee of [$5] $9 collected under the provisions of RSA 270-E:5, II(a) shall be paid to the director of the division of motor vehicles. The director of the division of motor vehicles shall pay over said fee to the state treasurer who shall keep the fee in a special fund to be expended by the department of environmental services. The department shall use $.50 of the fee for lake restoration and preservation measures, exclusive of exotic aquatic weed control, [$1.50] $5.50 of the fee for the control of exotic aquatic weeds, and $3 of the fee for the milfoil and other exotic aquatic plants prevention program. The department shall deposit the $3 into a special account within the lake restoration and preservation fund which shall be used to administer the milfoil and other exotic aquatic plants prevention program. The special fund shall be nonlapsing. All funds received under this section are continually appropriated to the department for the purposes of this subdivision.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2007.
LBAO
06-2246
Revised 1/6/06
HB 1701 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to boat fee agents of the department of safety, increasing the boat registration fee, and relative to the prevention of exotic aquatic weeds.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Departments of Safety and Environmental Services have determined this bill will increase state restricted revenue and decrease local revenue by an indeterminable amount in FY 2007 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county revenue or state, county and local expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Departments of Safety and Environmental Services stated this bill would require agents of the Department of Safety that are authorized to issue boat registrations under to RSA 270-E to remit all fees they collect to the Department of Safety, and would increase the boat fee collected under the provisions of RSA 270-E:5, II(a), from $5 to $9, and would direct the $4 increase to be used for the control of exotic aquatic weeds. Currently, the Department of Safety has agents, which are marinas that collect boat fees and send the funds to the towns in which the agents are located. This bill would require the agents to forward these fees instead to the Department of Safety to be deposited in the Navigation Safety Fund. This would result in an increase in revenue to the Navigation Safety Fund and a decrease in revenue to the local governments; however, because the Department of Safety does not know how much is currently being forwarded to the local governments by the agents, it is unable to estimate the potential increase in Navigation Safety Fund revenue and the related decrease to local government revenue. There are currently approximately 102,000 registered boats in New Hampshire. For FY 2006, the increase of $4 times the 102,000 registered boats would result in a $408,000 increase in revenue to the Lake Restoration and Preservation Fund. The Department of Environmental Services assumed the number of registered boats would increase by 200 for FY 2008 and FY 2009 and by 500 in FY 2010, resulting in increased revenue to the Lake Restoration and Preservation Fund of $408,800 in FY 2008 and FY 2009 and $410,000 in FY 2010.