HB428 (2013) Detail

Relative to funds for dam maintenance, removal and improvement.


CHAPTER 45

HB 428 – FINAL VERSION

6Mar2013… 0401h

2013 SESSION

13-0583

08/10

HOUSE BILL 428

AN ACT relative to funds for dam maintenance, removal and improvement.

SPONSORS: Rep. Suzanne Smith, Graf 8; Rep. Ebel, Merr 5; Rep. Brown, Graf 2

COMMITTEE: Resources, Recreation and Development

ANALYSIS

This bill allows all dam owners, excluding the state, to receive money from the dam maintenance, removal and improvement revolving loan fund.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

6Mar2013… 0401h

13-0583

08/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Thirteen

AN ACT relative to funds for dam maintenance, removal and improvement.

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

45:1 Dam Maintenance, Removal and Improvement; Revolving Loan Fund. Amend RSA 482:55-a, I-II to read as follows:

I. A dam maintenance revolving loan fund shall be established to provide low interest loans to fund the maintenance, repair, [or reconstruction] removal, or improvement of [privately owned] any dams excluding state owned dams, when such maintenance, repair, [or reconstruction] removal, or improvement is required under this chapter. This fund shall be nonlapsing and shall be continually appropriated to the department for the purposes of this section. No loans shall be made from this fund until the fund has accrued a balance of at least $25,000. [Private] Dam owners receiving loans from this fund shall repay the department on a time frame specified in rules established by the department. The commissioner shall collect all loan repayment moneys and deposit them in this fund.

II. The department shall establish rules for the fund including the application process, criteria for award, the procedure for making loans, the interest rate to be applied, the maximum loan amount, the time frame for repayment, actions to be taken in the event of a default on a loan, and oversight of the administration of the fund. In providing loans, the department shall evaluate the risk posed by the dam, the public benefit of the dam, the private benefit of the dam to lakefront owners, the ecological impacts of the dam, [and] the potential for [their contribution] contributions to needed maintenance, repair, or reconstruction, the financial resources of the applicant, and the relative cost of maintaining, repairing, or [reconstructing] improving the dam as compared to removing or breaching the dam.

45:2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

Approved: June 4, 2013

Effective Date: August 3, 2013