By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – By a unanimous vote, a bill that would tax standing trees on woodlots and forests that are enrolled in carbon sequestration programs has passed the House Municipal and County Government Committee.

An amended House Bill 123 will go on the consent calendar with a 18-0 recommendation of ought to pass.

The bill is one that was brought by Rep. Arnold Davis, R-Berlin, to address lost town and county timber tax revenues that are being encountered on parcels of land, such as the 146,000-acre Connecticut Lakes Headwaters tract at the very northern tip of the state.

It has been enrolled in the California carbon compliance market since 2013. Timber taxes that used to go to the towns have been diminished because the owner, Aurora Sustainable Lands, is paid to keep trees growing instead of cutting them, although they are still cutting trees, but not as many as they used to.

The bill would expand the timber tax law in RSA 79:3 to add a provision that would allow for taxation of standing trees and also provides some other parameters with regards to the carbon sequestration of timber.

It would not impact timber stands which are not enrolled in carbon programs.

State Rep. Jim Maggiore, D-North Hampton, said the whole issue of carbon programs is new, complicated and the bill has been part of a steep learning curve for the committee.

“These revenues need to be captured by local communities,” which he said are being lost to California that is “reaping the benefits of our good stewardship,” of land in New Hampshire.

Opponents of the bill argued this would be creating a new tax.

But Chairman Diane Pauer, R-Brookline, said she did not agree that it is a news tax.

“This legislation before us involves the timber tax which we already have. It is assessed when timber is cut for sale. It’s a yield tax. It is not a new tax. In my mind it is very clear that it is a new way to sell timber. Therefore, it is appropriate.”

Pauer also added “this is an important issue. It is a new issue that the states need to address through legislation and through policy.”

She said last year, the legislature agreed to a first bill on the subject that creates a mandatory registry of all properties enrolled in carbon programs and that is now up and available for viewing by the public with fewer than a dozen tracts of land listed.

She said because “timber is being locked up” it is greatly affecting the timber industry and municipal revenues.

“We need to address this here and now and not kick this can down the road any further,” Pauer stressed.

Rep. Stephanie Grund, D-Amherst, said she struggled with this bill but said she can see this as a “taxable event” and supported the amendment, which cleaned up definitions, and the bill itself.

Rep. Laurel Stavis, D-Lebanon, said she wanted to thank House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, for sending this bill to this committee because it has made it “stretch ourselves intellectually.”