Bill Text - HB239 (2009)

Relative to establishing a municipal bond rescission process.


Revision: June 4, 2009, midnight

HB 239-LOCAL – AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE

12Feb2009… 0183h

06/03/09 1956s

06/03/09 2068s

2009 SESSION

09-0742

06/10

HOUSE BILL 239-LOCAL

AN ACT relative to establishing a municipal bond rescission process, authorizing governing bodies to call a special meeting to consider reduction or rescission of appropriations, and clarifying special procedures enabling towns to respond appropriately to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

SPONSORS: Rep. Laliberte, Graf 10; Rep. Patten, Carr 4

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

AMENDED ANALYSIS

I. Establishes a municipal bond rescission process for bonds and notes.

II. Authorizes governing bodies to call a special meeting to consider reduction or rescission of appropriations to offset reductions in state revenue to political subdivisions.

III. Clarifies special procedures enabling towns to respond appropriately to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

12Feb2009… 0183h

06/03/09 1956s

06/03/09 2068s

09-0742

06/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine

AN ACT relative to establishing a municipal bond rescission process, authorizing governing bodies to call a special meeting to consider reduction or rescission of appropriations, and clarifying special procedures enabling towns to respond appropriately to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Town or District Bonds or Notes. Amend RSA 33:8 to read as follows:

33:8 Town or District Bonds or Notes. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, the issue of bonds or notes by any municipal corporation, except a city or a town which has adopted a charter pursuant to RSA 49-B, without a budgetary town meeting, and except a school district or municipality which has adopted official ballot voting procedures pursuant to RSA 40:13 shall be authorized by a vote by ballot of 2/3, and the issue of tax anticipation notes, by a vote of a majority, of all the voters present and voting at an annual or special meeting of such corporation, called for the purpose. The issue of notes or bonds by a school district or municipality which has adopted official ballot voting procedures pursuant to RSA 40:13 shall be authorized by a vote of 3/5. The issue of notes or bonds by a municipality that has adopted an optional form of legislative body under RSA 49-D:3, I-a or RSA 49-D:3, II-a shall be authorized by either a 2/3 or 3/5 vote as adopted and provided for in the charter. If such charter does not specify which majority vote is required, then the required majority vote shall be 2/3. Only votes in the affirmative or negative shall be included in the calculation of any majority. No such action taken at any special meeting shall be valid unless a majority of all the legal voters are present and vote at such special meeting, unless the governing board of any municipality shall petition the superior court for permission to hold an emergency special meeting, which, if granted, shall give said special meeting the same authority as an annual meeting. The warrant for a special meeting shall be published once in a newspaper having a general circulation in the municipality within one week after the posting of such special meeting. The warrant for any such annual or special meeting shall be served or posted at least 14 days before the date of such special meeting. Every warrant shall be deemed to have been duly served or posted, if the return on the warrant shall so state, and it shall be certified by the officer or officers required to serve or post the same. All bonds or notes, authorized in accordance with this chapter, shall be signed by the governing board, or a majority of the governing board, and countersigned by the treasurer of the municipality, and shall have the corporate seal, if any, affixed to it. The discretion of fixing the date, maturities, denominations, the interest rate, or discount rate in the case of notes, the place of payment, the form and other details of said bonds or notes and of providing for the sale of such bonds or notes, may be delegated to the governing board or to the treasurer and shall, to the extent provision therefor shall not have been made in the vote authorizing the same, be deemed to have been delegated to the governing board. Bonding authority under this section may be limited or rescinded as provided in RSA 33:8-f.

2 New Paragraph; Procedure for Authorizing Bonds or Notes in Excess of $100,000. Amend RSA 33:8-a by inserting after paragraph IV the following new paragraph:

V. Bonding authority under this section may be limited or rescinded as provided in RSA 33:8-f.

3 New Section; Procedures to Limit or Rescind Bonding Authority for Bonds or Notes. Amend RSA 33 by inserting after section 8-e the following new section:

33:8-f Procedures to Limit or Rescind Bonding Authority for Bonds or Notes.

I. In any vote to approve bonding authority, a town may limit the length of time the bond authorization remains valid. If, after the expiration of any such period, no bond or note has been issued, the bonding authority shall be considered for all purposes as rescinded.

II. A town may vote at an annual meeting to rescind an authorized but unissued bond or note following the same procedures as would be required to adopt such bond or note, provided that:

(a) A vote to rescind shall not take place less than 5 years after the vote to authorize the bond or note;

(b) The vote to rescind must pass by the same majority required, at the time of the rescission vote, to adopt a bond or note; and

(c) Notwithstanding RSA 33:8-a, II, a warrant article proposing the rescission of a bond or note in excess of $100,000 need not be acted upon prior to other business.

4 Special Meetings; Reduction or Rescission of 2009 Appropriations. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in response to anticipated reductions in state revenues to political subdivisions, the governing body of any town, school district, or village district, including those that have adopted RSA 40:13, may call a special meeting of the legislative body to consider reduction or rescission of appropriations made at the annual meeting for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 2009 or July 1, 2009, as the case may be, subject to the following:

I. The governing body of any town, village district, or school district that has adopted the provisions of RSA 40:13 may elect to hold and conduct the meeting in accordance with the provisions of this section and without regard to the provisions of RSA 40:13. A special meeting under this section shall not be petitioned under RSA 39:3 and no petitioned warrant articles shall be inserted in the warrant.

II. The governing body’s warrant shall specify, in one or more articles, the amounts of appropriations proposed for reduction or rescission from the operating budget or separate warrant articles, or both, adopted by the 2009 annual meeting.

III. The governing body shall hold a public hearing on the proposed reductions or rescissions at least 14 days prior to the meeting. Notice of the time, place, and subject of such hearing shall be posted in at least 2 public places within the political subdivision, one of which shall be on the political subdivision’s website, if such exists, at least 7 days prior to the hearing.

IV. The governing body of such town, village district, or school district shall post a notice of the meeting, which shall include the warrant, in at least 2 public places within the political subdivision, one of which shall be on the political subdivision’s website, if such exists, at least 7 days prior to the meeting. Additional notice shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the political subdivision, provided that if there is no newspaper of general circulation in which notice can be published at least 7 days before the date of the meeting, public notice shall be posted in at least one additional place within the political subdivision.

V. The meeting shall be conducted in accordance with RSA 40:1 through RSA 40:11. The most recently updated checklist shall be used.

VI. The legislative body may approve or disapprove any proposed reduction or rescission of appropriations, or may approve lesser reductions, but the legislative body may not approve greater reductions, increase appropriations, reduce or rescind an appropriation not specified in the warrant, or act on any other business at the meeting.

VII. Except as provided in this section, provisions of the following chapters of the RSAs, as they apply to special meetings of the legislative bodies of towns, school districts, and village districts, shall not be required for special meetings held pursuant to this section: RSA 31, RSA 32, RSA 39, RSA 49-D, RSA 52, RSA 197, RSA 654, RSA 669, RSA 670, and RSA 671.

5 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; Special Meeting; Appropriation and Expenditure of Funds. 2009, 14:2 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

14:2 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; Special Meeting; Appropriation and Expenditure of Funds. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the governing body of any town, village district, or school district, including those towns that have adopted RSA 40:13, may call a special meeting, without court approval, to consider an appropriate response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or any similar act adopted by Congress in 2009. The legislative body at such a meeting may authorize the appropriation and expenditure of any funds allocated to the political subdivision by the federal act, the appropriation and expenditure of any local matching share, the issuance of bonds for any local share, and the adoption of a warrant article under the provisions of RSA 31:95-b or RSA 198:20-b. Such meetings shall be subject to the following:

I. The governing body of any town, village district, or school district that has adopted the provisions of RSA 40:13 may elect to hold and conduct the meeting in accordance with the provisions of RSA 39 and RSA 40 and other applicable law without regard to RSA 40:13. If the governing body elects to follow the provisions of RSA 40:13, it shall provide at least a 15-day period between the deliberative session and the official ballot vote for the purposes of proceedings under this section.

II. The governing body of such town, village district, or school district shall post a notice, which shall include the warrant, in at least 2 public places within the political subdivision, one of which shall be on the political subdivision’s website, if such exists, at least 7 days prior to the meeting. Additional notice shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the political subdivision, provided that if there is no newspaper of general circulation in which notice can be published at least 7 days before the date of the meeting, public notice shall be posted in at least one additional place within the political subdivision.

III. The governing body shall hold a public hearing on the proposed warrant articles at the town meeting. In the event that the special meeting includes a warrant article for a bond, note, or other financing agreement subject to RSA 33:8-a, a public hearing held pursuant to this paragraph shall satisfy the public hearing requirement of RSA 33:8-a.

IV. In towns that have adopted the provisions of RSA 40:13, even if the governing body has elected to hold the meeting without regard to RSA 40:13, the issuance of notes or bonds shall be authorized by a vote of 3/5 of all ballots cast. In all other towns, the issuance of notes or bonds shall be authorized by a ballot vote of 2/3 of all voters present and voting, unless the town has adopted a charter provision specifically stating an alternate vote requirement.

V. The meeting shall be conducted in accordance with RSA 40:1 through RSA 40:11. The most recently updated checklist shall be used.

VI. Except as provided in this section, the special meetings provisions for the legislative bodies of towns, school districts, and village districts in the following chapters shall not apply to special meetings held under this section: RSA 31, RSA 32, RSA 33, RSA 39, RSA 49-D, RSA 52, RSA 197, RSA 654, RSA 669, RSA 670, and RSA 671.

6 Effective Date.

I. Sections 1-3 of this act shall take effect January 1, 2010.

II. Section 5 of this act shall take effect April 17, 2009, at 12:01 a.m.

III. The remainder of this act shall take effect upon its passage.