New Hampshire Hunting and Fishing Licenses for Disabled Veterans

RSA 214:13 runs a two-tier structure and the difference between the tiers is not only the price. The top tier, paragraph I. If the applicant for a fishing, hunting or bow and arrow license "is a resident of the state, has received a discharge other than dishonorable from service in the armed forces of the United States as defined in RSA 21:50, II and is totally and permanently disabled from such service-connected disability, the executive director shall issue a special veteran's license to said applicant. Said license shall be perpetual." Perpetual, not lifetime-purchased. The only money is "a $10 administrative fee ... charged once, upon application". No renewal, no recertification. Two drafting details. The discharge standard is "a discharge other than dishonorable", which is broader than the RSA 21:50, I definition used for the property tax credits, and it reaches a veteran with an other than honorable discharge. And the cross-reference is to RSA 21:50, II, which is the definition of "armed forces" rather than of "veteran", so the section borrows the branch list and sets its own discharge test. That branch list includes the Space Force, the reserves of each branch, and the Army and Air National Guard. Record-keeping carries a trap worth knowing: "The executive director shall retain the records for such licenses for a period not less than 7 years. Loss or destruction of the license after 7 years shall obligate the licensee to re-establish eligibility." Keep the license. After seven years the department may no longer hold the proof, and a veteran who loses it has to document the disability again. The lower tier, paragraph II, covers 80 to 99 percent and splits on how long the rating has been in place. Subparagraph (a), rated at least 80 but not 100 percent "for not more than 2 years": the executive director "may issue a lifetime license to such applicant at 50 percent of the cost of a lifetime license under RSA 214:9-c". May. It is discretionary. And the section adds a condition found nowhere else in this file: "The executive director shall comply with the requirements of 38 C.F.R. section 3.327 to determine if the applicant's disability qualifies the applicant to receive" the license. 38 C.F.R. 3.327 is the federal provision on reexaminations, so the state is directed to apply the federal reexamination criteria in deciding whether a recent rating is stable enough. Subparagraph (b), the same 80 to 99 percent "for more than 2 years": the executive director "shall issue" the same half-price lifetime license. Mandatory, with no reexamination inquiry. So a veteran newly rated at 80 percent may be told to wait, and the same veteran two years later is entitled. If the application is refused in year one, reapply once the rating has stood for two years. The price of a lifetime license under RSA 214:9-c is age-based rather than fixed. Paragraph II of that section has the executive director obtain an actuarial table based on an appropriate annuity from the commissioner of insurance and set the fee annually on July 15 for the following year based on the applicant's age, plus the agent's fee under RSA 214-A:4. A younger veteran therefore pays more, because the license is priced like an annuity. RSA 214:9-c, I(4) carries its own parallel route: the executive director "may issue a discounted lifetime license to a resident who is a permanently disabled veteran and complies with the provisions of RSA 214:13, II", at 50 percent of the calculated cost. RSA 214:9-c, III makes any lifetime license non-transferable and non-refundable in any part. Nonresidents are not shut out entirely. RSA 214:13-b authorises complimentary nonresident hunting and fishing licenses to a person from another state who has paraplegia, or the loss or loss of use of both lower extremities, "or is a totally and permanently disabled veteran, who would be eligible if a resident under RSA 214:13", but only "if the state in which said person is a resident provides a reciprocal privilege for residents of this state who are similarly suffering." So it depends on the home state's law. A license issued under that section is effective for life. Two related provisions. RSA 214:13-c covers licenses for certain other persons. And RSA 214:14-h allows complimentary fishing permits to a state or county institution, a nursing home facility "or veterans hospital", or to a resident who is a patient at one, which reaches a veteran in long-term care. One thing New Hampshire does not appear to give, and the absence is worth stating: there is no provision in RSA 214 waiving license fees for a resident active duty service member home on leave, of the kind South Carolina and several other states carry. A serving member pays the ordinary resident fee.