HB 416-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2023 SESSION

23-0657

10/05

HOUSE BILL 416-FN

AN ACT relative to membership on certain local land use boards.

SPONSORS: Rep. Corcoran, Hills. 44

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

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ANALYSIS

This bill prohibits certain persons from being elected or appointed or sitting on any zoning board of adjustment, planning board, or board of selectmen of the town in which they reside.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

23-0657

10/05

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three

AN ACT relative to membership on certain local land use boards.

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

1  New Section; Local Land Use Boards;  Administrative Provisions; Persons Prohibited.  Amend RSA 676 by inserting after section 3 the following new section:

676:3-a  Persons Prohibited.

I.  No person who has, in their role as a member of a zoning board of adjustment or planning board, ever invented or purported to invent an information classification system, or who has refused to turn over records that were later found to be public records, or who has sat on a board considering a matter on which he or she has a vested interest, or who has proposed or voted on new zoning ordinances or regulations on which he or she has a vested interest, shall be elected, appointed or sit on any zoning board of adjustment, planning board, or board of selectmen of the town in which they reside.

II.  Any person found to have violated paragraph I shall be disqualified from participation and shall not have his or her presence count for a quorum on the board.  There shall be a private right of action whereby any citizen of New Hampshire can challenge a town board for allowing such a prohibited person to sit or vote on a board, and the town shall be liable for reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in a lawsuit under this section.

2  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2024.

LBA

23-0657

12/28/22

HB 416-FN- FISCAL NOTE

AS INTRODUCED

AN ACT relative to membership on certain local land use boards.

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

METHODOLOGY:

This bill prohibits certain persons from being elected or appointed or sitting on any zoning board of adjustment, planning board, or board of selectmen of the town in which they reside.  If certain persons are allowed to sit on the board New Hampshire Citizens can bring a private right action and challenge the town board and the town shall be liable for reasonable attorney's fees and cost incurred in a lawsuit.  This bill could result in an indeterminable increase in local expenditures starting in FY 2024 to the extent any citizen challenges a town board and attorney's fees and costs are incurred.

AGENCIES CONTACTED:

None