A New Hampshire senator wants to put an end to lawsuits that delay state construction projects.
His bill proposes to make some losers pay the state's legal costs and the cost of construction delays.
NHPR�s David Darman has more.
Republican Robert Clegg, Senate Majority Leader, plans to sponsor the measure.
He says its aimed at people who use the courts to tie up construction projects for what he calls �no good reason�.
17 00 basically it�s a bill to stop frivolous actions against the state relative to state construction projects. 17 06
DOT spokesman Jim Boynton says the price of widening Interstate 93 has risen considerably.
And he says part of the reason has been litigation from environmental organizations trying to protect wetlands.
04 15 93 �the price tag on the i93 project, just in the last couple of years, has escalated from an initial 270 million to something like 420 million now for a variety of reasons, but it just shows you that on a project of that scale, any kind of delay or litigation could continue to raise that price tag. 04 43
Rising costs also plague a project, known as the Keene Bypass.
Senator Clegg says that project provides a good example of why some lawsuit losers should pay hefty sums of money.
18 04 take a look at the keene bypass. How many times has that been to court? Each time its been to court the state has prevailed. Yet it doesn�t stop people from using the court systems to delay the project and make it cost more and more and more. 18 18
Actually, groups opposed to the Keene Bypass want to court once.
And they won.
The Conservation Law Foundation went to court only after it had exhausted its appeals in the wetland permitting process.
CLF then won its case in federal court.
Annie Faulkner is past president of Concerned Cheshire Citizens of Keene.
The group formed in opposition to the state�s original plans for the Keene Bypass.
Faulkner says Clegg may see her group�s effort to redesign the bypass as a frivolous effort, but Keene residents don�t.
28 48... I mean in the case of the keene bypass, we have 5,000 citizens who signed a petition, who are looking for the project to get redesigned and that�s in a city of barely over 20,000 people. 28 104 that�s a large chunk of the population who cares enough to sign a petition.
Clegg has not yet filed legislation regarding his �losers pay� approach.
And he has not yet defined what constitutes a �frivolous� lawsuit.
Still, the Conservation Law Foundation�s Tom Irwin says the meaning of frivolous may not much matter if the measure becomes law.
He says that�s because the law could have a chilling effect on concerned citizens coming forward.
14 51 there are few individuals or organizations who would be willing to run the risks of those enormous fees. No matter how legitimate the lawsuit is. It would essentially put an end to the public�s ability to interface with our wetlands permitting process 116
Senator Clegg expects to file his measure in the Legislature by Friday.
