The office of energy and planning shall:
   I. Provide technical assistance and, within the limits of biennial legislative appropriations, financial grants to regional planning commissions established under RSA 36:45-36:53 in support of:
      (a) Planning assistance to local units of government.
      (b) Preparation of regional plans.
      (c) Contributions to and coordination with statewide planning and management activities, including the formulation and updating of the comprehensive state development plan prepared pursuant to RSA 4-C:2.
   II. As requested and in cooperation with regional planning commissions, provide technical assistance and information in support of the planning and growth management efforts of local units of government, including training requested under RSA 673:3-a. The office shall encourage municipalities to first seek assistance from established regional planning commissions.
   III. Provide computer interface capability among and between each regional planning commission, the office of energy and planning, and state data collection and storage sources. The computer interface capability shall be used by regional planning commissions to respond to municipal requests for assistance in the preparation and amending of master plans and in the evaluation of municipal infrastructure needs. The computer interface capability shall also be used by regional planning commissions to develop and update regional master plans, as provided in RSA 36:47. The computer equipment used for the purposes of this paragraph shall be compatible and able to interface with the office of energy and planning's geographic information system, as well as with other similar state computerized data collection and storage sources.
   IV. Provide technical assistance and information to municipalities with the cooperation of other state and regional planning agencies in the following areas:
      (a) Use and application of geographic data available in the state's geographic information system (GIS) for local planning and growth management purposes.
      (b) Recommending standard procedures for the establishment of accurate, large-scale base mapping to support municipal administrative functions such as tax assessment, public facility management and engineering.
Source. 1987, 283:3. 1988, 102:1. 1989, 366:2, eff. July 1, 1989. 2003, 319:11, eff. July 1, 2003. 2004, 257:44, 45, eff. July 1, 2004.