Things have slowed down since "cross-over" day. Except for bills that need to go to a second committee, such as Ways and Means, most do not need to be voted out of committee until late May. Here is an update on activity that has occurred:

Shoreland Protection Act. Several bills were introduced this year to change or abolish the Shoreland Protection Act. Generally speaking, this Act restricts the development of land within 250 feet of the shoreline. These bills would relax or abolish some restrictions, thus making development easier to accomplish.

The main vehicle is SB 154, which already passed the Senate is due for a vote in the House Resources, Recreation and Development committee today. Among other things, SB 154 would create a "permit by notification" process for smaller projects. Smaller projects are defined as impacting less than 1,500 square feet and adding no more than 900 square feet of impervious area within a protected shoreland area.

SB 20, which would exempt terrain alteration permit holders (RSA 485-A:17) from needing shoreland protection permits, passed the Senate and is still in the House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee.

HB 470, which would abolish the Act altogether, was sent to study. (Interestingly, this bill was not killed.) SB 124, which would have exempted certain landscaping activities from the Act, was killed by the Senate.

LLC tax. The House Ways and Means Committee may vote on SB 125 as early as today. This bill would permit business owners to deduct the value of their services from the business profits tax. Because both the House and Senate have passed versions of this concept, something likely will pass both chambers. The companion bill, HB 557, is still in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Interest rate relief and workforce housing killed. HB 457, which would have lowered the interest rate on delinquent tax payments to either 6% or 9%, depending on the tax, and HB 368, which would have required towns to provide so-called "workforce housing" only upon a vote of the legislative body, were killed by the Senate on April 13.

Updates on some other bills we are following...

SB 70: Shortening from 28 to 7 the number of days a landlord must store property left behind by a residential tenant. The bill also eliminates the $1,000 minimum damage award should landlords violate the 7-day storage requirement. This bill passed the Senate on March 16, and is still in the House Judiciary Committee.

SB 109: establishing a committee to study the foreclosure procedure in New Hampshire, including possibly switching to a judicial process versus the current non-judicial process.

This bill passed the Senate in February, and is still in the House Judiciary Committee.

SB 19: requiring "prime wetlands" to be an area having "very poorly drained soils."

This bill passed the Senate and is still in the House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee.

We are following other bills as well.

Click this link to see the current status of each bill.