Bill Text: NH HB1342 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relative to municipal charter provisions for tax caps.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-17 - Inexpedient to Legislate: Motion Adopted Voice Vote 03/17/2022 House Journal 8 [HB1342 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2022-HB1342-Introduced.html
HB 1342 - AS INTRODUCED
2022 SESSION
22-2565
10/05
HOUSE BILL 1342
AN ACT relative to municipal charter provisions for tax caps.
SPONSORS: Rep. Vail, Hills. 30; Rep. Moran, Hills. 34; Rep. Dutzy, Hills. 30; Rep. Harriott-Gathright, Hills. 36; Rep. J. Schmidt, Hills. 28; Rep. Espitia, Hills. 31; Rep. Jack, Hills. 36; Rep. Mangipudi, Hills. 35; Rep. Telerski, Hills. 35; Rep. Pedersen, Hills. 32
COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government
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ANALYSIS
This bill clarifies the interpretation of override provisions for tax or spending caps in certain town and city charters.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
22-2565
10/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Two
AN ACT relative to municipal charter provisions for tax caps.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Municipal Charters; Separability, Preservation; Limitation Deleted. Amend RSA 49-B:13, II-a to read as follows:
II-a. [Notwithstanding RSA 49-B:1,] All town or city charters which have been adopted, revised, or amended [before July 5, 2011] to include a tax or spending cap of any kind and all charter commissions which have been properly established and elected; all elections properly held; and all actions properly taken related to the tax or spending cap in such charters are hereby endorsed, ratified, validated, and legalized and are fully enforceable. If any such tax cap or spending cap does not contain an override provision it shall be interpreted to allow an override upon a 2/3 supermajority vote of the governing body.
2 City Charters; Exclusions for Debt, Capital Expenditures; Redistribution Deleted. Amend RSA 49-C:33, I(d) to read as follows:
(d) A limit on the annual spending increases that increase the amount raised by taxes under the city budget adopted pursuant to RSA 49-C:23. Such a tax cap shall provide for an override threshold on a vote to exceed the limit on annual increases which shall be by a supermajority as determined in the charter. A tax cap provision in the city charter may provide for specific exclusions for dedicated, enterprise, or self-supporting funds or accounts, capital reserve funds, grants, or revenue from sources other than local taxes[, or interest and principal payments on municipal bonded debt, or capital expenditures which shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter. An ordinance or accounting practice that redistributes excludable budget items from within the limits of the capped budget to outside the limits of the capped budget shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter].
3 Optional Forms of Legislative Body; Exclusions for Debt, Capital Expenditures; Redistribution Deleted. Amend RSA 49-D:3, I(e) to read as follows:
(e) Other matters of local concern may be included in a charter including, but not limited to, conflict of interest provisions which shall be at least as strict as those established in the general laws, citizen powers of initiative, referendum and recall as described in RSA 49-C, the adoption and periodic review of an administrative code, a merit personnel system, a purchasing system, and a town investment policy, and the adoption of a tax cap limiting the annual increases in amounts raised by taxes under the town budget. Such tax cap shall include an override threshold on a vote to exceed the limit on annual increases which shall be by a supermajority as determined in the charter. Such tax cap may specifically exclude certain dedicated, enterprise, or self-supporting funds or accounts, capital reserve funds, grants, or revenue from sources other than local taxes[, or interest and principal payments on municipal bonded debt, or capital expenditures which shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter. An ordinance or accounting practice that redistributes excludable budget items from within the limits of the capped budget to outside the limits of the capped budget shall be by a supermajority vote as determined in the charter].
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
