§ 483:8-a — Local River Management Advisory Committees; Establishment; Duties

I. The advisory committee shall appoint a local river management advisory committee for each designated river or segment. Committee members shall be chosen from lists of nominees submitted by the local governing bodies of the municipalities through which the designated river or segment flows. All members of such committees shall be New Hampshire residents.
II. Each committee shall be composed of at least 3 members who represent a broad range of interests in the vicinity of the designated river or segment. These interests shall include, but not be limited to, local government, business, conservation interests, recreation, agriculture, and riparian landowners. If an interest is not represented by the local governing bodies' nominations, the advisory committee may appoint a member from the vicinity of the designated river or segment, to the local river management advisory committee who will represent that interest. County commissioners shall be permitted to nominate members to the local river management advisory committee in unincorporated towns or unorganized places. Upon the request of the committee, local governing bodies or county commissioners within tributary drainage areas may submit nominees for appointment. Each member shall serve a term of 3 years, except when the committee is first established. When the committee is first established the advisory committee shall appoint members to one, 2, or 3 year terms to create staggered terms.
III. The duties of such committees shall be:
(a) To advise the commissioner, the advisory committee, the municipalities through which the designated river or segment flows, and municipalities within tributary drainage areas on matters pertaining to the management of the river or segment, tributary drainage areas, and disposal of state-owned lands. Municipal officials, boards, and agencies shall inform such committees of actions which they are considering in managing and regulating activities within designated river corridors.
(b) To consider and comment on any federal, state, or local governmental plans to approve, license, fund, or construct facilities or applications for permits, certificates, or licenses, that may alter the resource values and characteristics for which the river or segment is designated.
(c) To develop or assist in the development and adoption of local river corridor management plans under RSA 483:10. The local planning board, or, in the absence of a planning board, the local governing body, may adopt such plans pursuant to RSA 675:6 as an adjunct to the local master plan adopted under RSA 674:4. No such plan shall have any regulatory effect unless implemented through properly adopted ordinances.
(d) To report biennially to the advisory committee and the commissioner, and annually to municipalities on the status of compliance with federal and state laws and regulations, local ordinances, and plans relevant to the designated river or segment, its corridor, tributary drainage areas, and the activities of the local river management advisory committee including, but not limited to, committee volunteer hours, permit applications reviewed, corridor management plans and their implementation, and education and outreach efforts.
III-a. Local river management advisory committees may apply for and accept, from any source, gifts, grants, and other donations of money or services that directly assist the committee in meeting its duties, programs, and projects. The committees may, without further authorization, expend any funds so received to carry out their duties under this section.
III-b. Local river management advisory committees may, with the approval and consensus of the local governing bodies, merge with other local river management advisory committees for a designated river or segment or re-establish individual committees from previously merged committees.
IV. In the case of the Connecticut River, the commissioner shall appoint the New Hampshire Connecticut River Valley resource commission as the local river management advisory committee to work with the Vermont Connecticut River Watershed Advisory Commission as provided in RSA 227-E. A minimum of 5 subcommittees shall be established by the Connecticut River Valley resource commission along the river between Vermont and New Hampshire as provided in RSA 483:8-a, II. Vermont residents may be appointed in an advisory capacity to the local river management advisory committee, except where the Connecticut River is exclusively intrastate.
V. In order to establish the tax exempt status of local river management advisory committees established under this section, such advisory committees are deemed to be governmental instrumentalities having a distinct legal existence separate from the state and shall not be considered as departments of state government. The exercise by a local river management advisory committee of any authority granted by this section shall be deemed to be the performance of public and essential governmental functions not otherwise fulfilled by state government.

Legislative History

1990, 233:6. 1991, 338:9. 1992, 261:2. 1995, 219:2. 1997, 7:1; 267:3. 2007, 285:5. 2009, 201:9, eff. July 15, 2009. 2016, 287:17, 18, eff. Aug. 20, 2016. 2019, 79:4, eff. June 18, 2019.