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Here are some of the issues facing New Hampshire citizens today. We hope that you will take this opportunity to join in and become engaged in issues of relevance to you or your community.
Under New Hampshire’s capital punishment law, the death penalty can be sought in cases involving the murder of police and court officers, judges, murders for hire, and/or murders connected to drug deals, rape, kidnapping and home invasions.
New Hampshire is the only state that does not require adults to wear a seat belt. Under current law, only children under 18 have to buckle up in New Hampshire.
Property taxes on land and buildings are used predominantly by local governments to finance schools, police and fire protection, trash collection, street maintenance, and public recreation, among other local services. The state property tax is used to help fund K-12 education. NH citizens are led to believe that we have the highest property taxes in the U.S. But how high they are depends on how you measure the tax--on some measures we are in the top few; by others we range between 13th and 45th highest taxed states.
The Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act (CSPA) was initially enacted in 1991. It was substantially amended in 2007 and its new provisions became effective as of July 1, 2008. The law is primarily aimed at protecting the public waters of the state and applies strict rules to the use and development of the land located from the shoreline to 250 feet inland (the “protected shoreland”). Permits from the state are required for all construction, excavation and filling. This Act was substantially amended in 2011 and is now called the Shoreland Water Quality Protection Act.
In June 2010, Governor Lynch signed a law establishing speed limits on Lake Winnipesaukee. The new law sets limits of 30mph at night and 45mph during the day. The law's passage supercedes previous legislation which called for a two year trial period of lake speed limits.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has found that the state, and not our local communities, is responsible for ensuring the funding of an adequate education for all citizens. The NH legislature has attempted to comply with the court's order, but has not done so in a way that many communities and citizens have accepted. All recent NH governors have recommended to the legislature a constitutional amendment that gets the courts out of the picture, and puts the decisions on education funding in the hands of the legislature. But since the NH legislature has failed to agree to any amendment language, none has ever gone to the citizens for a vote.
The Old Man of the Mountain came crashing down in May 2003. Following several years of debate, a task force decided against rebuilding this symbol of New Hampshire and supported the creation of an abstract replica in a park near Profile Lake.
The New Hampshire Legislature passed a law in 2006 that required PSNH to install pollution control technology known as a scrubber to reduce mercury emissions at the Bow power plant. The estimated cost of that scrubber is now $450 million, compared to the original estimate of $250 million. All of these costs will be paid for by NH consumers. In 2009, a bill that would have required the Public Utilities Commission to investigate whether or not PSNH should still install the scrubber was defeated by the state Senate and in August 2009, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled against a group of ratepayers trying to prevent the installation of the scrubber.
As a result of Senate Bill 2, adopted in 1995, any town, school district or cooperative school district that raises and appropriates funds at an annual meeting can adopt a process whereby all warrant articles are given their final vote by official ballot. The law effectively takes the voters’ power away from the traditional town meeting, and turns it into a "deliberative session." If the town budget is not approved by the voters on the written ballot, a "default budget" takes its place. The default budget can be higher or lower than the proposed town budget.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is the first cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gases in the U.S. RGGI is an agreement among 10 Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to reduce global greenhouse gases. In New Hampshire, enabling legislation was passed in 2007.
The state legislature has wrestled with several bills related to gambling over the past few years. The proposals included legalized video slot machines to a full-fledged casino in southern New Hampshire. The state already has many gambling activities like our lottery, race tracks and charitable events. Expanded gambling offers the possibility of hundreds of millions of dollars of revenues, but these revenues come with potentially significant economic and social costs.
In June 2009, the Legislature passed a short-lived tax on LLC owners.The tax was repealed a year later following a public uproar. The tax was proposed as a measure to help close the state's budget gap. The Department of Revenue estimated the tax would generated $15 million annually. Opponents claimed the tax law would drive small businesses out of the state. They were also upset because the law was passed without a public hearing.