NH House Voting on 2 Wakesurfing bills on Thursday, March 28.
Thank you to everyone who has responded to our previous calls to action regarding two wakesurfing bills - HB1301 and HB1390. We need you once again to contact your representatives!
This Thursday, the two bills go before the full House of Representatives to determine if they move on to the Senate. There is strong opposition to both bills. However, the Resources, Recreation, and Development Committee acknowledges that there is also a strong desire to do something about the negative impacts that wakesurfing can have on our lake's water quality.
HB1301, relative to wakesurfing on public bodies of water, would allow 25 residents or more to petition the NH Department of Safety to prohibit or restrict certain activities on a body of water, or portion thereof. This is the process followed for establishing no wake zones, no jet skiing areas, no rafting zones, etc., and would allow the same process to be followed regarding restricting wake surfing. It does not mean that 25 people can decide to have wakesurfing banned or restricted on a waterbody. The NH Department of Safety would have to go through the public hearing process to determine whether the petition/request is valid and needed. This past week, the Department of Safety confirmed that this bill would not place a burden on other safety hearings or staff.
HB1390, relative to regulating wakeboating and wakesports, was amended by the Resources, Recreation, and Development Committee to establish a wakesports zone as an area of a waterbody that has a minimum of 50 contiguous acres that are 300 feet (previously 500 feet) from shore on all sides. The amended bill removes the 20 ft. minimum depth requirement as well.Here is a link to a 300 ft buffer interactive map for Winni.
https://lakewinnipesauke.maps.arcgis...0f881b8228e18c
LWA supports both of these bills, and we urge you to contact the full House and express your support as well. Your input matters and helps the NH legislators make informed decisions.
HOW TO CONTACT YOUR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES
Follow the simple steps below to let the House Representatives in your district know why they should support these bills.
Go to the NH General Court website at:
https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/members/
On the right-hand side, under “Discover a Town or City’s Representative,” select your town in the pulldown menu or click on your region on the map.
The first thing that will appear is the list of Representatives in your town. (Do not scroll down to the State Senator section below. Only the House Representatives will be discussing these bills this week.)
Under the Representative’s section, click on the name of each representative. Their email and/or phone number should pop up. Email or call your representatives. (Calling can really make a BIG impact!)
In your email or phone call, be sure to:
Identify the bills you would like your representative to support on March 28. (Consider an email subject line such as: SUPPORT HB 1301 & 1390 relative to wakesports on March 28)
Identify that you are a constituent from their district. (It’s ok if you don’t permanently live in the district–if you spend part of the year or vacation there, they want to hear from you!)
Tell your brief personal story about why they should support these bills.
Let them know how to reach you if they have questions or would like to learn more.
Please share this with others who may be interested. We appreciate your time, input, and support!