Revision: March 31, 2009, midnight
SB 65-FN – AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
03/11/09 0642s
2009 SESSION
06/03
SENATE BILL 65-FN
AN ACT relative to the acceptance of in lieu payments for the restoration or creation of wetlands.
SPONSORS: Sen. Janeway, Dist 7; Rep. Kappler, Rock 2; Rep. Gottling, Sull 3
COMMITTEE: Energy, Environment and Economic Development
This bill permits the department of environmental services to accept in lieu payments for the restoration or creation of wetlands and the preservation of upland areas adjacent to wetlands, streams, rivers, and their riparian habitats.
This bill is a request of the department of environmental services.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03/11/09 0642s
09-0743
06/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine
AN ACT relative to the acceptance of in lieu payments for the restoration or creation of wetlands.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Excavating and Dredging Permit; Certain Exemptions; Current Version. Amend RSA 482-A:3, I(d) to read as follows:
(d) At the time the permit application is submitted to the city or town clerk, the applicant shall provide postal receipts or copies, verifying that abutters, as defined in the rules of the department, and except as further provided in said rules, and the local river management advisory committee if the project is within a river corridor as defined in RSA 483:4, XVIII, or a river segment designated in RSA 483:15, have been notified by certified mail. The postal receipts or copies shall be retained by the municipality. The town or city clerk shall immediately sign the application and forward by certified mail, the application, plan, map, and filing fee to the department. The town or city clerk shall then immediately send a copy of the permit application, plan, and map to the local governing body, the municipal planning board, if any, and the municipal conservation commission, if any, and may require an administrative fee not to exceed $10 plus the cost of postage by certified mail. One copy shall remain with the city or town clerk, and shall be made reasonably accessible to the public. The foregoing procedure notwithstanding, applications and fees for projects by agencies of the state may be filed directly with the department, with 4 copies of the application, plan, and map filed at the same time with the town or city clerk to be distributed as set forth above.
2 Excavating and Dredging Permit; Certain Exemptions; Version Taking Effect July 1, 2010. Amend RSA 482-A:3, I(d) to read as follows:
(d) At the time the permit application is submitted to the city or town clerk, the applicant shall provide postal receipts or copies, verifying that abutters, as defined in the rules of the department, and except as further provided in said rules, and the local river management advisory committee if the project is within a river corridor as defined in RSA 483:4, XVIII, or a river segment designated in RSA 483:15, have been notified by certified mail. The postal receipts or copies shall be retained by the municipality. The town or city clerk shall immediately sign the application and forward by certified mail, the application, plan, map, and filing fee to the department. The town or city clerk shall then immediately send a copy of the permit application, plan, and map to the local governing body, the municipal planning board, if any, and the municipal conservation commission, if any, and may require an administrative fee not to exceed $10 plus the cost of postage by certified mail. One copy shall remain with the city or town clerk, and shall be made reasonably accessible to the public. The foregoing procedure notwithstanding, applications and fees for projects by agencies of the state may be filed directly with the department, with 4 copies of the application, plan, and map filed at the same time with the town or city clerk to be distributed as set forth above.
3 Aquatic Resource Compensatory Mitigation. Amend RSA 482-A:28 to read as follows:
482-A:28 Aquatic Resource Compensatory Mitigation. In lieu of other forms of compensatory mitigation, the department may accept payment for an unavoidable loss of aquatic resource functions and values including wetlands, streams, rivers, and their riparian habitats from a proposed activity which at a minimum:
I. Impacts less than [one acre] 3 acres of wetlands and meets the criteria for a United States Army Corps of Engineers state programmatic general permit.
II. Exceeds one acre of impact for a public roadway or a public utility project and meets the criteria for a United States Army Corps of Engineers state programmatic general permit.
III. Involves minor or major impacts to a stream or river or is a project that requires mitigation and meets the criteria for a United States Army Corps of Engineers state programmatic general permit.
4 Fund Established. Amend RSA 482-A:29, I to read as follows:
I. There is hereby established the aquatic resource compensatory mitigation fund into which payments made under this subdivision shall be deposited. The fund shall be a separate, nonlapsing fund continually appropriated to the department to be used only as specified in this subdivision for costs related to wetlands creation or restoration, stream restoration, stream enhancement preservation of upland areas adjacent to wetlands and riparian areas, and the subsequent monitoring and maintenance of such areas.
5 Fund Established. RSA 482-A:29, II is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
II. Money from the administrative assessment collected under RSA 482-A:30, III and RSA 482-A:30-a, II shall be used to pay state personnel costs to support up to 2 full-time positions for administration of the fund and related projects.
6 Payment for Freshwater and Tidal Wetlands Losses. Amend RSA 482-A:30, III to read as follows:
III. An administrative assessment which equals [5] 10 percent of the sum of paragraphs I and II.
7 New Section; Payment for Stream or Shoreline Losses. Amend RSA 482-A by inserting after section 30 the following new section:
482-A:30-a Payment for Stream or Shoreline Losses. For stream or shoreline resource losses, the in lieu payment shall be the sum of:
I. The cost that would have been incurred if a stream of the same type was restored at the ratios adopted by the department, based on a price of $200 per linear foot of channel or bank impacts or both, to be adjusted at the beginning of the calendar year according to the annual simple rate of interest on judgments established by RSA 336:1; and
II. An administrative assessment equal to 10 percent of the amount in paragraph I.
8 Rulemaking. Amend RSA 482-A:31, II to read as follows:
II. The method of calculating the amount of in lieu payments under RSA 482-A:30 and RSA 482-A:30-a which shall approximate the total cost of wetlands construction, stream construction, or such other mitigation actions as would have been required by the department and incurred by the applicant in the absence of making such payments. An administrative assessment of [5] 10 percent of the total cost shall be added as part of the calculation method.
9 Effective Date.
I. Section 2 of this act shall take effect July 1, 2010, at 12:01 a.m.
II. The remainder of this act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
LBAO
09-0743
Amended 03/24/09
SB 65 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to the acceptance of in lieu payments for the restoration or creation of wetlands.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Environmental Services states this bill, as amended by the Senate (Amendment #2009-0642s), may increase state restricted expenditures, state restricted revenue, county expenditures and local expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2009 and each year thereafter. There is no fiscal impact on county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Environmental Services states this bill permits the Department to accept in lieu payments for the restoration or creation of wetlands and preservation of upland areas adjacent to wetlands, streams, rivers and their riparian habitats. The Department states it is not able to determine how many additional projects and the size and spatial distribution within each watershed of any additional projects this bill will generate. The bill also changes the administrative assessment from 5 percent to 10 percent with the administrative assessment to be used to pay for up to 2 full-time positions for administration of the aquatic resource compensatory mitigation fund and related projects. The Department has one full-time position funded by the administrative assessment. If there are enough projects, the Department assumes it will hire an additional position at labor grade 21 by FY 2012. The additional position would increase state restricted expenditures by $61,337 in FY 2012 and $64,665 in FY 2013.