Senate Votes in Favor of More Funding for the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP)

March 14, 2019

Contacts: Sara Persechino

Phone: (603) 271-3479

Email: Sara.Persechino@leg.state.nh.us

CONCORD, NH—Today, the New Hampshire Senate passed SB 74, 16-8. The legislation will increase the additional recording fee assessed at the registries of deeds on four types of documents (mortgages, mortgage discharges, plans, and deeds) to support the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP). The fee would increase by $10, from $25 to $35, and based on the bill’s fiscal note, this fee increase would result in an additional $1,584,808 per year going to LCHIP.

Senator Martha Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth) prime sponsor of SB 74, released the following statement after the vote:

“Since its creation in 2002, the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) has been extraordinarily successful providing assisting New Hampshire communities and non-profits in their efforts to conserve and preserve our state’s most important natural, cultural, and historical resources. While the price of real estate as well as the cost of land acquisition and the preservation and renovation of buildings have increased dramatically since LCHIP’s inception, funding for the program has remained flat. SB 74 maintains and expands this critical program’s ability to continue funding important public-private partnerships to protect the significant assets that make New Hampshire, New Hampshire and add to the economic vitality of our state.”