By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – While Senate Democrats tried to reel it in, Republican opposition to a bill that would have given the Fish and Game Department a new funding source, a $2.50 marine habitat fee, was rejected and the bill killed on Thursday.
The Senate also killed a bill that would expand the Office of the Child Advocate, re-referred back to committee a measure related to cooperation with federal authorities on immigration matters (without debate) and laid upon the table a $15 million drinking water measure, among other actions.
Senate Bill 159-FN was sought by Fish and Game to create a new fee which would help protect and restore habitat, similar to one the department has for freshwater habitat.
State Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, noted that with inflation “the last thing we need to do is add a fee,” even for recreation despite the fact there was no opposition in the Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing to the bill.
Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, said it was the committee’s 3-2 recommendation that this was not the time to be creating a new fee.
The sponsor of the bill, state Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, said unlike other departments, Fish and Game “don’t get the dough” from the general fund and have to get creative on how to pay for services the department provides.
He noted the warming of the Gulf of Maine and the change that is causing to habitat, and also impacts to Great Bay, and this would work to help with habitat and habitat access.
Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, noted Fish and Game is incapable of supporting itself without these and other measures.
The bill read, “A marine habitat fee shall be paid by all persons 16 years of age or older, in addition to each applicable marine license required by Title XVIII, to take, land, transport, or possess marine species in the marine waters of this state. The executive director shall establish the amount of the marine habitat fee in rules, in accordance with RSA 541-A.”
Following the vote, the Republican leadership issued a press statement about the rejection of the “Fishing tax” quoting Sen. Murphy.
“In the Live Free or Die State, we shouldn’t have to pay a fee to saltwater fish. This bill would have implemented a saltwater fishing tax and mandated that any 16-year-old fishing in New Hampshire would need to pay a fee to saltwater fish in our state.”
The Senate did pass SB 70-FN, creating a digital mobile driver’s license and non-driver identification card which was not debated but part of the consent calendar.
Sen. Lang, the sponsor, said in a statement, “We have access to many different documents through our cell phones and this bill adds a digital identification to that list. This new approach modernizes our state and streamlines the age verification and identification processes. Our youth always have their phones on them and having access to their IDs digitally means they will never leave home without it. Digital IDs modernize our Department of Motor Vehicles and prepare New Hampshire for further access to identification in the future.”
This process has been approved in seven other states and streamlines age verification and identification in line with TSA standards.
People would still need to provide physical identification if requested by law enforcement.
Senate Bill 76 which would have expanded the scope of authority of the Office of the Child Advocate was rejected as it was “too overreaching,” said Sen. Daryl Abbas, R-Salem.
It was killed on a voice vote. Abbas noted the bill as drafted would exempt the office from the right-to-know law under RSA 91a.
“We felt that went too far,” he said on behalf of the committee.
The Senate did pass a measure clarifying the placement of political signs on municipal property and removing reference to clothing displays during the act of voting after an incident in Durham where a woman was told she could not wear a shirt with a political sign and she took it off with nothing worn underneath the shirt, Sen. Lang said.
Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, said the bill was “nibbling around the edges of voter suppression” and said worn items can influence or intimidate voters.
A copy of Senate Bill 45 is here https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=936&inflect=2.
The upper chamber, which is controlled by Republicans, also passed with a floor amendment Senate Bill 73 relative to BINGO, Senate Bill 60 related to advanced deposit accounts for wagering, Senate Bill 106-FN related to net energy metering, and Senate Bill 37, requested by Health and Human Services which allows for a public notification of investigations and inquiries at residential care facilities with an amendment having them be posted online.
