SB 192-FN-LOCAL – AS INTRODUCED
2009 SESSION
06/10
SENATE BILL 192-FN-LOCAL
COMMITTEE: Public and Municipal Affairs
This bill authorizes city councils to establish procedures for issuing citations for housing code violations and for establishing and collecting fines therefor.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
09-1036
06/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine
AN ACT relative to fines for housing code violations.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Bylaws and Ordinances; Nuisances. Amend RSA 47:17, XIV to read as follows:
XIV. NUISANCES. To abate and remove nuisances; to regulate the location and construction of slaughterhouses, tallow chandlers’ shops, soap factories, tanneries, stables, barns, privies, sewers, and other unwholesome or nauseous buildings or places, and the abatement, removal or purification of the same by the owner or occupant; to prohibit any person from bringing, depositing, or having within the city any dead carcass or other unwholesome substance; to provide for the removal or destruction, by any person who shall have the same upon or near such person’s premises, of any such substance, or any putrid or unsound beef, pork, fish, hides, or skins, and, on such person’s default, to authorize the removal or destruction thereof by some officer of the city; to authorize and provide for the collection, removal, and destruction of garbage and other waste material, to make necessary regulations relative thereto, and to provide for payment therefor by assessment, or appropriation, or both. A municipality may create fines for violations related to garbage and other waste material regulations and a procedure for the administrative enforcement of such violations and collection of penalties as provided in RSA 48-A:8, VI.
2 Bylaws and Ordinances; Warnings and Citations. Amend RSA 47:17, XVI to read as follows:
XVI. WARNINGS AND CITATIONS.
(a) To establish a procedure for the issuance of warnings and citations for the violation of health, fire, planning board, building, licensing, zoning, and housing codes and ordinances.
(b) To establish fines for housing standards violations and a procedure for recovering such fines by means of civil process.
3 New Paragraph; Additional Provisions of Ordinances, Codes, or Bylaws. Amend RSA 48-A:8 by inserting after paragraph V the following new paragraph:
VI. To establish procedures for the administrative enforcement of violations and collection of penalties prior to the service of a formal summons and complaint. Such a procedure may:
(a) Be administered by a police department or other municipal agency;
(b) Include procedures for payment of uncontested penalties by mail;
(c) Provide for a schedule of enhanced penalties the longer such penalties remain unpaid; provided, however, that the penalty for any separate offense shall in no case exceed the maximum penalty for a violation under RSA 47:17.
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
LBAO
09-1036
Revised 03/02/09
SB 192 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to fines for housing code violations.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states this bill will increase local revenues and expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2010 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state and county revenues or expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
This bill authorizes city councils to establish procedures for issuing citations for housing code violations and establishing and collecting fines. The New Hampshire Municipal Association states local revenues will increase by an indeterminable amount in FY 2010 and each year thereafter as a result of the establishment and collection of fines allowed within the proposed legislation. The Association also states local expenditures will also increase by an indeterminable amount in FY 2010 and each year thereafter due to costs associated with the implementation and administration of the proposed legislation.