New Hampshire HB 1273: enabling municipal support and incentives for residential flood resilience improvements.

Bill Text

HB 1273 - AS INTRODUCED

2026 SESSION

 26-2838

 06/08

HOUSE BILL 1273

AN ACT enabling municipal support and incentives for residential flood resilience improvements.

SPONSORS: Rep. Muns, Rock. 29; Rep. Balboni, Rock. 38; Rep. Bridle, Rock. 29; Rep. Darby, Hills. 11; Rep. Grote, Rock. 24; Rep. Maggiore, Rock. 23; Rep. Sabourin dit Choiniere, Rock. 30; Rep. Edgar, Rock. 29; Sen. Altschiller, Dist 24

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

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ANALYSIS

This bill:

 I. Renames the coastal resilience zone to a flood resilience incentive zone.

 II. Expands qualifying improvements and funding mechanisms.

 III. Authorizes municipal flood resilience fees and revolving funds.

 IV. Permits tax credits and special assessments for flood mitigation investments.

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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 Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

 26-2838

 06/08

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty-Six

AN ACT enabling municipal support and incentives for residential flood resilience improvements.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 1 Flood Resilience Incentive Zone. Amend RSA 79-E:4-a to read as follows: 

 79-E:4-a [Coastal] Flood Resilience Incentive Zone. 

 I. A city or town may adopt the provisions of this section by vote of its legislative body, according to the procedures described in RSA 79-E:3, to establish a [coastal] flood resilience incentive zone ([CRIZ] FRIZ). Municipalities may use the New Hampshire Flood Hazards Viewer online tool developed by the New Hampshire floodplain management program to identify potentially impacted structures and the boundaries of such a FRIZ. Municipalities adjacent to Great Bay or the Gulf of Maine may also refer to storm surge, sea-level rise, and extreme precipitation projections in the 2016 report of the New Hampshire Coastal Risk and Hazards Commission, "Preparing New Hampshire for Projected Storm Surge, Sea-Level Rise, and Extreme Precipitation," and its successor projections[, to identify potentially impacted structures] to assist with those determinations. 

 II. The municipality implementing a [CRIZ] FRIZ shall determine the resilience measures it deems qualifying ("qualifying improvements")[,] such as, but not limited to, [elevation and free-board renovations, elevation of mechanicals, construction of resilient natural features, enhancement or creation of tidal marshes, elevation of private driveways and sidewalks, construction or enlargement of private culverts and other structures to enable increased water flow and storm-surge, and movement of property to higher elevation on the property or to a newly acquired property at a higher elevation within the municipality. Municipalities may grant tax relief to the qualifying structure and property as described in RSA 79-E:4] providing flood and water damage mitigation and resiliency improvements, prioritizing repairs, replacement, or improvements that qualify for reductions in flood insurance premiums, including raising a structure above the base flood elevation to reduce flood damage; constructing a flood diversion apparatus, drainage gate, or sea/lake/river wall improvement, including sea/lake/river wall repairs and sea/lake/river wall replacements; purchasing flood damage-resistant building materials; adopting water management practices that use the natural environment to address flooding events, such as vegetated rooftops, roadside plantings, absorbent gardens, bioswales, tree planting and other vegetation and other measures that capture, filters and reduce stormwater; or making electrical, mechanical, plumbing, or other system improvements that reduce flood damage. 

 III. Municipalities may grant tax relief to the property with qualifying improvements. as described in RSA 79-E:4 and this section. 

 [III] IV. Municipalities may provide other relief to properties in a [coastal] flood resilience incentive zone that are subject to repeated inundation[,] by acquiring preservation or water control easements or establishing tax increment financing districts. 

 [IV] V. Municipalities may create a nonlapsing [CRIZ] FRIZ fund as a capital reserve fund under RSA 34 or RSA 35, or a town-created trust fund under RSA 31:19-a, to provide funding for projected municipal costs associated with projected storm surge, sea-level rise, and extreme precipitation, and such funds may be used to support the [coastal] flood resilience incentive zone purpose established in this section. 

 VI. A municipality may create a nonlapsing FRIZ investment fund as a revolving fund under RSA 31:95-h t