Bill Text - HB1428 (2020)

Relative to inspections for bedbugs.


Revision: Dec. 3, 2019, 9:02 a.m.

HB 1428-FN-LOCAL - AS INTRODUCED

 

 

2020 SESSION

20-2306

06/01

 

HOUSE BILL 1428-FN-LOCAL

 

AN ACT relative to inspections for bedbugs.

 

SPONSORS: Rep. J. Schmidt, Hills. 28

 

COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill requires health officers to inspect certain premises that provide lodging to transient guests for the presence of bedbugs.

 

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

20-2306

06/01

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty

 

AN ACT relative to inspections for bedbugs.

 

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

 

1  New Paragraph; Duties of Town Health Officers; Bedbug Inspection.  Amend RSA 128:5 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:

II-a.  Shall, upon complaint of a guest at an inn, hotel, motel, or other establishment which provides lodging to transient guests, enter the premises to evaluate whether bedbugs are present.  

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

 

LBAO

20-2306

11/15/19

 

HB 1428-FN-LOCAL- FISCAL NOTE

AS INTRODUCED

 

AN ACT relative to inspections for bedbugs.

 

FISCAL IMPACT:      [    ] State              [    ] County               [ X ] Local              [    ] None

 

 

 

Estimated Increase / (Decrease)

LOCAL:

FY 2020

FY 2021

FY 2022

FY 2023

   Revenue

$0

$0

$0

$0

   Expenditures

Indeterminable

Indeterminable

Indeterminable

Indeterminable

 

METHODOLOGY:

This bill requires a town health officer, upon complaint of a guest at a hotel or other establishment providing lodging to transient guests, to enter the premises to determine whether bedbugs are present.  Under existing law (RSA 147:3), municipal health officers are required to "inquire into all nuisances and other causes of danger to the public health," but are not specifically required to investigate complaints about bedbugs.  Per the New Hampshire Municipal Association, if this bill is viewed as imposing a new requirement, it may result in an indeterminable increase in municipal expenditure.  Any increase would depend on the number and nature of complaints and the manner in which health officers are compensated, which may vary significantly across municipalities.   

 

AGENCIES CONTACTED:

New Hampshire Municipal Association