LegIssues

LAKES LEGISLATIVE WEEKLY
March 24, 2008

Waterfront Septic Failure Notification Bill Passes Senate!
    Despite having been "tabled" the previous week after the NH Association of Realtors had urged the Senate to "kill" the measure, SB 384 passed the Senate by a vote of 17-7 on March 20. SB 384, initiated by the joint efforts of NH LAKES and the NH Rivers Council and sponsored by Senator Kathy Sgambati (D-Tilton), would require that the NH DES and local authorities be notified when a septic system is found to be failing during a site assessment of developed waterfront property (lakes and 4th order and higher rivers). Prior to the Senate vote, SB 384 was supported by a broad coalition of stakeholders including, but not limited to: the NH Department of Environmental Services, the Granite State Designers and Installers Association, and the NH Rivers Management Advisory Committee.
    The primary contention of the NH Association of Realtors, the only opposition to the bill, is that it seeks to expand the site assessment requirement to those rivers covered under the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act (4th order and higher perennial water bodies). Previously, no rivers had fallen under the regulatory provisions of the site assessment requirement, only lakes. Therefore, the NH Association of Realtors argued that the impact to riverfront property owners would be uknown and that the bill should be killed for this reason. While not necessarily agreeing with this contention, NH LAKES and the NH Rivers Council offered a compromise, which was ultimately adopted by the bill sponsor and Senate, which delays the implementation of the site assessment requirement on river properties for 2 years from the effective date of the Act (January 1, 2011). SB 384 has yet to receive a public hearing date before the House of Representatives.
     Again, the proposed law would only apply at the time of a purchase and sale agreement and does not    establish any new requirements on lakefront property owners that do not already exist in law. It merely establishes an administrative tracking mechanism for septic systems that endanger our public waters. Thank you to all who sent a letter of support or made a phone call in favor of SB 384.

NH LAKES' Moorings Initiative Passes Senate on a Voice Vote!
     Senate Bill 358, sponsored by Senator Robert Letourneau, passed the Senate on a voice vote on March 20. Senate Bill 358 establishes a citizen-driven petition process (25 signatures per municipality abutting a lake) to require the Department of Safety to hold a public hearing to determine the necessity of moorings regulations. It has yet to be determined when SB 358 will be given a public hearing before the House of Representatives. Thank you to all who sent a letter of support or made a phone call in favor of SB 358.

Speed Limit Supporters, Please Contact WinnFabs for Their Latest Update on HB 847!
     WinnFabs has a recent update to HB 847 that they would like to share with supporters. Please email Sandy Helve at: info@WinnFABS.com. Your support will be needed when this bill is given a public hearing before the Senate. Thank you!

Instructions for Viewing Legislation Text & Finding Important Information
     Please visit NH LAKES website for an updated list of bills that it is tracking (http://www.nhlakes.org) and to view current and past editions of the Lakes Legislation Weekly. You can also access the texts of existing bills by doing the following:

1. Go to http://www.nh.gov
2. Click on link entitled, "legislative branch"
3. Click on "quick bill search"
4. Type in the bill number (i.e. SB384) without leaving any spaces between the letters and numbers.

Reminder: Learn more about the policy initiatives that NH LAKES is working with and read our newest Lakes Legislation Weekly by visiting our website at http://www.nhlakes.org or contacting Derek Durbin at ddurbin@nhlakes.org.

Greetings lake enthusiasts:
Please read the petition letter that I have copied into the text below as it relates to SB 358. If you support SB 358 and the ability of lakes other than just the 6 big lakes to regulate moorings, please sign on to this petition before Monday. You can do so by simply sending me your name and lake and we can add you to the petition. It will be delivered to the legislative committee referenced below by Monday. Thank you, Derek Durbin. PS - For more information on the bill itself, please visit www.nh.gov and do a quick bill search for SB 358.

April 25, 2008
Dear Madam Chair Spang and Members of the Committee:
We, the undersigned individuals, representative of the lake communities we live in, are concerned about the recent SB 358 subcommittee's recommendation (4-2) to send the bill to "interim study." Due to the fact that it is an election year, we are very concerned that there will be little if any time for the study committee members to work on the bill and make any meaningful recommendations to amend the state moorings program by fall.
This summer, we will again be faced with some very serious recreational issues on our lakes that may be left un-attended to by the state Marine Patrol because we are not part of the moorings program. We will be denied the ability to petition during the upcoming summer months for a hearing to determine the mere necessity of bringing our lakes into this program. This will cause increasingly hostility between different classes of recreational enthusiasts on our lakes.
In short, this will likely force us to appeal to our own local State Representatives and Senators to submit individual pieces of legislation relative to each of the lakes that have current moorings problems. As you can see, this could lead to a "flood" of moorings-related legislation. We are concerned about the legislature being the best forum to be making decisions on how or whether moorings should be regulated on each of our individual public water bodies due to the fact that the Department of Safety is the state agency that works most intimately with our public waters. From discussions with those who recreate on the 6 "big lakes," we believe the moorings program is working well. If there are still some minor, specific concerns that the legislature has with how moorings are regulated on these lakes, these should be expressed through legislation next year. If passed, it is likely anyway, that such legislation would become effective before any regulatory program on our individual water bodies.
In conclusion, we hope that the Committee will vote "ought to pass" on SB 358 and reserve its "study" of the general moorings program for an individual piece of legislation next year. To deny our lakes the ability to petition the DOS to become a part of this program, will only create an increasing backlog of lakes and legislation relative to this subject matter. Please also keep in mind that the Senate voted to pass this bill on a bi-partisan "voice vote." Thank you for your urgent attention on this matter. Best regards.
Respectfully Submitted: (sign below with name and lake)
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