HB1294 — Version 100

29march00.....3790h

4may00.....4532-EBA

2000 SESSION

00-2270

08/10

HOUSE BILL 1294-LOCAL

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill:

I. Retitles the chapter concerning regional planning commissions.

II. Provides that the office of state planning may adjust the boundaries of planning regions after consultation with the respective regional planning commissions.

III. Encourages consultation by regional planning commissions with agencies and institutions.

IV. Provides that regional planning commissions shall have status as political subdivisions of the state.

V. Allows regional planning commissions to borrow funds and establish lines of credit.

VI. Repeals the authority of regional planning commissions to provide assistance to urban renewal projects or blight removal activities.

VII. Gives the director of the division of motor vehicles the authority to prescribe special rules relative to registration of vehicles owned by regional planning commissions and issue permanent number plates for such vehicles.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

29march00.....3790h

4may00.....4532-EBA

00-2270

08/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand

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

200:1 Regional Planning Commissions; Chapter Title. The chapter title of RSA 36 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSIONS

200:2 Regional Planning Commissions; Purposes. Amend RSA 36:45 to read as follows:

36:45 Purposes. The purpose of this subdivision shall be to enable municipalities and counties to join in the formation of regional planning commissions whose duty it shall be to prepare a coordinated plan for the development of a region, taking into account present and future needs with a view toward encouraging the most appropriate use of land, such as for agriculture, forestry, industry, commerce, and housing; the facilitation of transportation and communication; the proper and economic location of public utilities and services; the development of adequate recreational areas; the promotion of good civic design; and the wise and efficient expenditure of public funds. The aforesaid plan shall be made in order to promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the region and its inhabitants. To promote these purposes the office of state planning shall delineate planning regions for the state so that each municipality of the state will fall within a delineated region and shall have the opportunity of forming or joining the regional planning commission for that planning region. In determining these regions the office shall consider such factors as community of interest and homogeneity, existing metropolitan and regional planning agencies, patterns of communication and transportation, geographic features and natural boundaries, extent of urban development, relevancy of the region for provision of governmental services and functions and its use for administering state and federal programs, the existence of physical, social and economic problems of a regional character, and other related characteristics. To accommodate changing conditions, the office may adjust the boundaries of the planning regions, after consultation with the respective regional planning commissions.

200:3 Formation of Regional Planning Commissions; Representation of Not-For-Profit Agencies and Institutions. Amend RSA 36:46, III to read as follows:

III. Each municipality which shall become a member of a regional planning commission shall be entitled to 2 representatives on said commission. A municipality with a population of over 10,000 but less than 25,000 shall be entitled to have 3 representatives on said commission and a municipality with a population of over 25,000 shall be entitled to have 4 representatives on said commission. Population as set forth in this section shall be deemed to be determined by the last federal census. Representatives to a regional planning commission shall be nominated by the planning board of each municipality from the residents thereof and shall be appointed by the municipal officers of each municipality. Representatives may be elected or appointed officials of the municipality or county. In any county or counties in which a regional planning commission has been formed, the county may, by resolution of its county commissioners, become a member of said regional planning commission and shall be entitled to appoint 2 representatives on said commission. The terms of office of members of a regional planning commission shall be for 4 years, but initial appointments shall be for 2 and 4 years. In municipalities entitled to 3 or more representatives, initial appointment shall be for 2, 3 and 4 years. Vacancies shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same manner as original appointments. Municipalities and counties may also appoint alternate representatives. A representative to a regional planning commission shall, when acting within the scope of his official duties and authority, be deemed to be acting as an agent of both the regional planning commission and of the municipality or county which he represents. In addition, regional planning commissions are encouraged to consult, at their discretion, with agencies and institutions operating within the region whose activities influence planning and development in that region.

200:4 Regional Planning Commissions; Finances. Amend RSA 36:49 to read as follows:

36:49 Finances. A regional planning commission shall determine on a reasonable and equitable basis the proportion of its costs to be borne respectively by each municipality or county which is a member of said commission. A commission may accept and receive in furtherance of its functions, funds, grants, and services from the federal government or its agencies, from departments, agencies and instrumentalities of state, municipal or local government or from private and civic sources. Such funds may be used in conjunction with other funds from federal or state governments or from gifts, grants or contributions available for such work. Municipalities or counties are hereby authorized to appropriate funds to the use of a regional planning commission and to furnish a regional planning commission legal or other services which it may deem reasonable. Failure upon the part of any municipality or county to pay its proportionate annual share of the cost as determined by a regional planning commission shall constitute a termination of such municipality's or county's vote in the commission's affairs until such annual share is paid. Municipalities or counties are hereby authorized to enter into contracts with a regional planning commission for the furnishing of funds or services in connection with the preparation of a comprehensive regional master plan and any special planning work to be done by a regional planning commission for any member municipality or county. Within the amounts appropriated to it or placed at its disposal by gift, grant, or contribution, a regional planning commission may engage employees, contract with professional consultants, rent offices, and obtain such other goods, or services and incur short-term operating debt, not to exceed a term of one year and/or a line of credit secured by the assets of the commission, as are necessary to it in the carrying out of its proper function. Member municipalities and counties shall not be liable for any debt or line of credit incurred by a regional planning commission. Any private gifts or funds when received shall be deemed a contribution to the regional planning commission for a public purpose within the meaning of any federal or state laws relative to tax exemptions.

200:5 Regional Planning Commissions. Amend RSA 36:50 to read as follows:

36:50 Relationship To Local Planning Boards. A regional planning commission may assist the planning board of any municipality within the delineated region to carry out any regional plan or plans developed by said commission. A regional planning commission may also render assistance on local planning problems. A regional planning commission may make recommendations on the basis of its plans and studies to any planning board, to the legislative body of any city and to the selectmen of any town within its region, to the county commissioners of the county or counties in which said region is located and to any state or federal authorities. Upon completion of a comprehensive master plan for the region or any portion of said comprehensive master plan, a regional planning commission may file certified copies of said comprehensive master plan or portion thereof with the planning board of any member municipality. Such planning boards may adopt all or any part of such comprehensive master plan which pertains to the areas within its jurisdiction as its own master plan, subject to the requirements of [sections 13, 14, and 15, chapter 36 of the Revised Statutes Annotated] RSA 674:1-4.

200:6 New Section; Regional Planning Commissions; Status as Governmental Units. Amend RSA 36 by inserting after section 49 the following new section:

36:49-a Status as a Political Subdivision. Regional planning commissions are political subdivisions of the state. However, regional planning commissions have only that power and authority expressly provided for in RSA 36.

200:7 Motor Vehicles; Registration and Plates of Publicly Owned Vehicles. Amend RSA 261:92 to read as follows:

261:92 Publicly Owned Vehicles; Nonprofit Corporations. The director shall have the authority to prescribe special rules relative to registration of vehicles owned and driven by the government of the United States, the state, or by any county, city, town, regional planning commission, school district, volunteer fire department, eligible nonprofit corporation operating transportation under contract with the department of transportation for the public or for elderly or disabled persons, or public or private educational institution used for the purpose of student driver training, and may issue permanent number plates for such vehicles. Said vehicles displaying said number plates shall be deemed to be properly registered under the provisions of this title and may be driven upon the ways of the state without further registration or subsequent number plates.

200:8 Repeal. The following are repealed:

I. RSA 36:51, relative to assistance to urban renewal by municipalities and other public bodies.

II. RSA 36:52, relative to workable programs.

200:9 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

(Approved: May 30, 2000)

(Effective Date: July 29, 2000)