Bill Text: NH HB688 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relative to establishing an agricultural education number plate.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-11-12 - Committee Report: Inexpedient to Legislate for Jan 6 (Vote 11-0; Consent Calendar); House Calendar 67, PG. 11 [HB688 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2015-HB688-Introduced.html
HB 688-FN-LOCAL - AS INTRODUCED
2015 SESSION
15-0741
08/03
HOUSE BILL 688-FN-LOCAL
AN ACT relative to establishing an agricultural education number plate.
SPONSORS: Rep. Bixby, Straf 17
This bill establishes an agricultural education number plate.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15-0741
08/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen
AN ACT relative to establishing an agricultural education number plate.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Subdivision; Number Plates Supporting Agricultural Education. Amend RSA 261 by inserting after section 97-f the following new subdivision:
Number Plates Supporting Agricultural Education
261:97-g Agriculture Number Plates.
I. The director is hereby authorized to issue special agriculture number plates, in lieu of other number plates. The design of these special plates shall be determined as provided in RSA 261:97-j. The plates shall retain the “live free or die” logo. Such plates shall be issued only upon application and upon payment of a $30 fee that shall be in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee and any other number plate fees otherwise required.
II. The commissioner is also authorized to issue vanity agriculture number plates. The fee for any such vanity agriculture number plate shall be the fee as provided in paragraph I, in addition to the fees for vanity plates which are otherwise established by law. The vanity plate portion of the fee shall be distributed as provided in RSA 261:89 and RSA 263:52.
III. Plates shall be renewed on an annual basis for $30 per set. Of this sum, the department shall retain an amount as is necessary to recover production and administrative costs as approved by the fiscal committee of the general court. The remaining funds shall be paid to the state treasurer and distributed as provided in RSA 261:97-h. The cost of replacement number plates shall be identical to the cost of initial number plates and the revenue from replacement number plates shall be distributed in the same manner as revenue derived from initial number plates.
261:97-h Agriculture Number Plate Trust Fund.
I. There is hereby established a agriculture number plate trust fund under the administration of the state treasurer. The fund shall be used for the promotion and investment in agricultural education in the state. The fund shall be nonlapsing. The state treasurer shall distribute the funds annually on July 1, except as provided in paragraph II, as follows: $1 for every new, renewal, and transfer of registration, up to a total of $50,000, shall be placed in a nonlapsing account for use by the department of resources and economic development to promote the agriculture number plate program; the remainder shall be transferred to the department of agriculture, markets, and food which will distribute it equally among the New Hampshire Farm to School Program, the New Hampshire agriculture in the classroom committee, the New Hampshire FFA Foundation, and a new account established to fund agricultural education grants.
II. Each department and commission receiving funding from the agriculture number plate trust fund shall establish a line item in its budget. Moneys received from the agriculture number plate trust fund shall be in addition to any other sums appropriated and shall not replace base funding received by any of these departments or commissions through the budget process.
261:97-i Use of Funds. The moneys in the fund shall be used as follows:
I. To support the New Hampshire Farm to School Program by:
(a) Providing training and workshop opportunities around the state to teachers and school food service professionals on local food procurement and school gardens.
(b) Helping support an annual statewide farm to school/preschool conference.
(c) Providing culinary training to school food service professionals on the use of local foods in school meals.
(d) Helping support the annual New Hampshire Healthy Recipe Cooking Challenge.
(e) Providing training to New Hampshire farmers on growing and selling to the institutional market.
II. To support New Hampshire agriculture in the classroom by:
(a) Expanding the resource library by increasing the number of books and teaching aids available for educators to borrow for use in their classroom.
(b) Increasing efforts in helping educators explore ways to incorporate agriculture in their curriculum by introducing authentic agricultural examples to teach core curriculum concepts in science, social studies, language arts, math, and nutrition.
(c) Initiating a teacher pre-service program at colleges and universities around the state where representatives from agriculture in the classroom will spend time in the students’ education classes exploring the need for agricultural education and how they can incorporate it into their classroom while providing them with curriculum and resources.
(d) Providing additional teacher workshops throughout the state.
(e) Reducing the cost of the annual Spring Literacy Program so that more classrooms will benefit from receiving the book and the accompanying lesson packet.
(f) Creating additional field trip opportunities for students in each county.
(g) Developing educational “lab totes” for teachers or New Hampshire agriculture in the classroom staff to bring laboratory science experiments to schools. Lab tote modules would emphasize different areas of agriculture, including New Hampshire’s primary commodities, the environment, food, fiber, and fuel.
(h) If funding permits, advance the “lab tote” program into a mobile agricultural education lab which moves from school to school.
III. To support the New Hampshire FFA Foundation by:
(a) Providing leadership and career training through workshops and conferences.
(b) Providing scholarships for postsecondary education in agriculturally related fields.
(c) Providing grants for supervised agricultural experience activities: a research, experimentation, employment, or entrepreneurship project in an agricultural area developed by students with help from their agricultural teachers.
IV. The agricultural education grant program administered by the department of agriculture, markets, and food, shall be used to establish a grant program to ensure that communities and statewide nonprofit organizations have the opportunity to compete for funds provided by this subdivision. The grant programs shall be established for municipal groups, schools, and nonprofit entities which may apply to the agriculture number plate advisory committee for grants to assist them in planning and carrying out agricultural education projects. The spirit of the grant program will be to supply classrooms and agricultural education organizations with funding, no more than $2,500 in a calendar year, for specific programs designed to further the agricultural literacy of preschool through grade 12 students in New Hampshire.
V. The funds transferred to the department of resources and economic development shall be used to promote the agriculture number plate program.
VI. Any funds transferred from the agriculture number plate trust fund which remain unexpended at the end of the fiscal year shall be non-lapsing.
261:97-j New Hampshire Agriculture Number Plate Advisory Committee; Duties; Meetings.
I. A New Hampshire agriculture number plate advisory committee is hereby established. The agriculture number plate advisory committee shall be composed of the following:
(a) The commissioner of the department of agriculture, markets, and food, or designee.
(b) The commissioner of the department of education, or designee.
(c) The commissioner of the department of safety, or designee.
(d) The New Hampshire Agriculture in the Classroom board of directors president, or designee.
(e) The New Hampshire Farm to School coordinator, or designee.
(f) The New Hampshire FFA Foundation president, or designee.
(g) One member of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.
(h) One member of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate.
II. The house member shall act as chairperson of the committee.
III. The committee shall:
(a) Jointly determine the plate design with final approval by the commissioner of safety. The commissioner of the department of safety shall establish a numbering system and method of distribution.
(b) Register the design with the secretary of state. The commissioner of the department of safety, with the approval of the governor and council, shall have the authority to enter into contractual arrangements for the commercial use of the agriculture plate design. Any royalties derived from such contracts shall be deposited into the agriculture number plate trust fund created under RSA 261:97-h.
(c) Develop a form card process for applications for aid awarding grants from the agriculture member plate trust fund.
(d) Monitor the implementation of the program through an annual evaluation of projects accomplished during the preceding year and an assessment, prior to implementation, of projects proposed for the coming year to ensure that they are in accordance with legislative intent.
(e) Oversee the appropriate signage of funded projects and notice of funding on websites and printed materials. Agencies receiving funds under this section shall mount signs at funded project sites indicating that the project was funded by the New Hampshire agriculture number plate program and include statements of funding on web sites and printed materials. The sign requirement may be waived in the case of environmentally sensitive projects where signage could be detrimental to the success of the project.
IV. The committee shall meet at least annually, but more often if necessary. The members shall serve without compensation, except that legislative members of the committee shall receive mileage at the legislative rate. The committee chairperson shall appoint a secretary from within the committee to keep a detailed record of all proceedings.
V. Any vacant position shall be filled by the appropriate authority.
VI. All proceeds from the sale of products using the agriculture number plate design by an agency authorized to receive proceeds from the trust fund created under RSA 261:97-h may be retained by such agency.
VII. It shall be the duty of legislative members of the committee to initiate appropriate legislation to ensure that the purposes and goals of the agriculture number plate program are being achieved.
261:97-k Plate Use. Plates may be used on passenger motor vehicles and recreation vehicles.
261:97-l Report.
I. The members representing the department of safety, department of agriculture, markets, and food, and the department of education shall each submit a report to the New Hampshire agriculture number plate advisory committee chairperson no later than October 1 of each year. The committee chairperson shall compile the 3 reports as a unified report and submit the unified report to the governor, senate president, and the speaker of the house no later than December 31 of each year.
II. The unified report shall contain the following:
(a) A report from the department of safety indicating:
(1) The total number of agriculture number plates sold during the preceding year, including the number of initial plates and the number of renewals.
(2) The gross revenue derived from the sale of agriculture number plates.
(3) The amount retained by the department of safety to cover administrative costs of the program.
(4) The amount paid to the state treasurer for deposit into the New Hampshire agriculture number plate trust fund during the preceding fiscal year.
(b) A report from each of the 3 programs receiving proceeds under RSA 261:97-i, indicating:
(1) The amount of proceeds received under RSA 261:97-i.
(2) Total funds expended.
(3) Accomplishments achieved pursuant to RSA 261:97-i during the preceding fiscal year.
(4) An outline of the projects and programs to be conducted in the ensuing fiscal year with proceeds from the fund.
2 New Subparagraph; General Fund Exceptions. Amend RSA 6:12, I(b) by inserting after subparagraph 326 the following new subparagraph:
(327) Moneys deposited in the agriculture number plate trust fund established in RSA 261:97-h.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2016.
LBAO
15-0741
01/26/15
HB 688-FN-LOCAL - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to establishing an agricultural education number plate.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Safety, Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food, and Department of Resources and Economic Development state this bill, as introduced, may increase state restricted revenue and expenditures, and local expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2017 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local revenue, or county expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Safety states this bill establishes an agricultural education number plate that shall be issued for a $30 fee in addition to the regular motor vehicle registration fee. The plates must annually be renewed for a fee of $30. This bill establishes the agriculture number plate trust fund, which is a non-lapsing fund. Revenue derived from the issuance and renewal fees shall be retained by the Department to the extent necessary to recover production and administrative costs with the remainder deposited into the agriculture number plate trust fund. The Department reports there are 3,758 agriculture plates currently issued and if 50 percent of those, or 1,879, chose the new plate then state revenues would increase annually by $56,370. The Department has estimated the following implementation costs and annual revenue based on the July 1, 2016 effective date of this bill:
FY 2017
FY 2018
FY 2019
Revenue
1,879 plates at $30 (1/2 in first year)
$28,185
$56,370
$56,370
Expenditures
Business Requirements Effort (300 hours at $175 per hour)
$52,500
$0
$0
Programming Changes to MAAP program (612 hours at $175 per hour)
$107,100
$0
$0
Configure & Testing for VISION program (100 hours at $175 per hour)
$17,500
$0
$0
Municipal Agent Vendor Testing (250 at $175 per hour)
$43,750
$0
$0
Municipal Agent Browser Testing (250 at $175 per hour)
$43,750
Department of Safety Recovery Implementation Costs
$0
$53,551
$53,551
Cost of Production and Administration (5%)
$1,409
$2,819
$2,819
Total Increase in State Expenditures
$266,009
$56,370
$56,370
The Department was unsure as to whether it is permitted to recover the initial expenditures related to set up costs not recovered in FY 2016. The Department reports there may be an indeterminable fiscal impact to local governments’ expenditures due to programming changes required to their private software programs in order to add the new plate types.
The Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food estimates the cost to pay a contracted manager to manage the new agricultural education number plate program to be approximately $36,000 annually. The Department states it is not currently able to absorb the anticipated workload resulting from this bill with existing resources.
The Department of Resources and Economic Development assumes it will receive $1 for every new, renewal or transfer or registration, up to a total of $50,000 annually. Such funds would be deposited into the agriculture number plate trust fund and would be used to promote the agricultural plate program. Consequently, the Department expects the net fiscal impact to be $0 as this bill appropriates funds to cover the cost of promoting the plate program.
