Revision: March 29, 2010, midnight
HB 1620-FN-A – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
17Mar2010… 0833h
2010 SESSION
03/01
HOUSE BILL 1620-FN-A
AN ACT establishing state park number plates.
SPONSORS: Rep. A. Peterson, Hills 3; Rep. Campbell, Hills 24; Rep. Bergin, Hills 6; Rep. Nixon, Hills 17; Rep. G. Katsakiores, Rock 5; Sen. Hassan, Dist 23; Sen. Odell, Dist 8; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20
This bill establishes state park number plates to fund maintenance and use of the park system.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
17Mar2010… 0833h
10-2044
03/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT establishing state park number plates.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Paragraph; Fees for Park System; State Park Number Plates. Amend RSA 216-A:3-g by inserting after paragraph V the following new paragraph:
VI. No fee shall be charged for day-use admission to the state park system to any person holding state park number plates. Any fees for the use of metered parking or enterprise activities as defined in paragraph II shall be charged to such person.
2 State Park Fund. Amend RSA 216-A:3-i, I to read as follows:
I. The state treasurer shall establish a separate and distinct account to be known as the state park fund. The treasurer shall establish within the state park fund separate and distinct accounts known as the park account and the ski area account. The treasurer shall deposit in said accounts actual revenue derived by the commissioner of the department of resources and economic development in excess of budget expenses from fees, services, accommodations, rentals, revenue from lift and tramway operations, retail sales, and net profit from concession operations, and including any federal moneys which become available, state park number plate fees collected under RSA 261:97-g, and all donations and gifts. The accounts shall be continuing and nonlapsing.
3 New Subdivision; State Park Number Plates. Amend RSA 261 by inserting after section 97-f the following new subdivision:
State Park Number Plates
261:97-g State Park Number Plates.
I. The director is hereby authorized to issue special state park number plates, in lieu of other number plates. The plates shall retain the “live free or die’’ motto. The commissioner shall design 4 state park number plates depicting the following themes: seashore, mountains, lakes, and skiing. Such plates shall be issued only upon application and upon payment of a $85 fee that shall be in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee and any other number plate fees otherwise required.
II. The commissioner is also authorized to issue vanity state park number plates. The fee for any such vanity state park number plate shall be the fee as provided in paragraph I, in addition to the fees for vanity plates which are otherwise established by law. The vanity plate portion of the fee shall be distributed as provided in RSA 261:89 and RSA 263:52.
III. Plates shall be renewed on an annual basis for the fee established in paragraph I. Of this sum, the department shall retain an amount as is necessary to recover production and administrative costs. The remaining funds shall be paid to the state treasurer and deposited in the state park fund established in RSA 216-A:3-i to fund maintenance and use of the park system. The cost of replacement number plates shall be identical to the cost of initial number plates and the revenue from replacement number plates shall be distributed in the same manner as revenue derived from initial number plates.
IV. Plates may be used on passenger motor vehicles and recreation vehicles.
4 State Park Number Plates; Design. The design for state park number plates issued pursuant to RSA 261:97-g shall be determined by a contest administered by the governor and the department of safety. Entrants shall be asked to submit images to be used for any of the 4 designs required by RSA 261:97-g.
5 Initial State Park Number Plates. The director shall issue number plates bearing 4-digit registration numbers to the first 10,000 applicants for state park number plates. Four-digit plate numbers shall be issued serially in the order that applications are received, beginning with “0001” and ending with “9999.”
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.
LBAO
10-2044 Amended 03/23/10
HB 1620 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT establishing state park number plates.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Departments of Resources and Economic Development and Safety state this bill, as amended by the House (Amendment #2010-0833h), will increase state restricted revenue and expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2011 and each fiscal year thereafter. This bill will have no fiscal impact on county and local revenue or expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) states this bill establishes four state park number plate types to fund maintenance and use of the park system. The fee for these plates is $85 per year and entitles the owner to no fee day-use admission to the state park system, with revenue deposited in the state park fund. DRED assumes $5 of the fee will be retained by the Department of Safety consistent with the conservation number plate (CNP) program, resulting in net park plate revenue of $80 per plate. In addition, DRED assumes people who purchase the new plate would have purchased New Hampshire state park season passes at $60 per year, resulting in a net increase to the state park fund of $20 per plate purchased ($80 net plate revenue minus $60 season pass revenue). Assuming 500 new plates will be sold each year, DRED estimates state park revenue would increase by $10,000 in FY 2011 ($20 X 500 plates), and $20,000 in FY 2012 ($20 X 1,000 plates). It is also assumed that all plate fees will be deposited in the state park fund, net of plate costs, so RSA 235:23 provisions sending 12% of total revenue from plate sales to municipalities for local aid, do not apply.
The Department of Safety states although they cannot predict the actual number of persons who would purchase park plates, they assume 8,000 plates will be manufactured and eventually issued. The cost to produce 8,000 sets of plates is $67,174; including purchasing 4 rolls of new sheathing for $8,000, computer programming time of 250 hours at $175 per hour, ($43,750), and mailing costs of $15,424.