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Sponsored By



SPBG Jan 2011 

Cap Group 

Editorial Board

 
Brad Cook 
Sheehan Phinney
Bass + Green

Bruce Berke
Sheehan Phinney
Capitol Group   
 
Valerie Acres 
Sheehan Phinney
Capitol Group   
Henry Veilleux 
Sheehan Phinney
Capitol Group  
Erle Pierce Sheehan Phinney
Capitol Group
 
 Michael Skelton
Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce   michaels@manchester-chamber.org 

Sponsor's Insight

Workforce Housing

The Senate Public & Municipal Affairs Committee has voted 5-0 to recommend that HB 368 be killed.  The committee heard lots of testimony this past Tuesday in opposition to this bill.  It would effectively repeal the recently enacted law that requires municipalities to "provide reasonable and realistic opportunities for the development of workforce housing."  As noted in previous Capitol Insights, the Chamber strongly opposes HB 368.  Other groups speaking in opposition to the bill were: the NH Homebuilders Association; the NH Planners Association; the Business & Industry Association of NH; the NH Housing Finance Authority; the NH Manufactured Housing Association; the NH Regional Planning Commissions; the NH Community Action Association; the Seacoast Workforce Housing Coalition; and several developers.  Similar opposition appeared at the House committee hearing in February, and subsequently on a vote of 14-1 the House committee recommended the bill be killed.  Things went awry, however, when the bill went to the full House for a vote.  Ignoring the committee recommendation, the full House passed the bill on a vote of 219-110.  Opponents of the bill are lobbying to insure what happened in the House is not repeated on the floor of the Senate next Wednesday. They are cautiously optimistic. 

Warnings for Labor Violations

Next Tuesday at 10:45 a.m., the House Labor Committee will hear legislation that attempts to cut some slack to businesses that make an honest mistake and are willing to correct it.  Senate Bill 86 requires the N.H. Department of Labor to issue one warning to employers for certain violations before a fine may be imposed.  The employer would have no more than 30 days to correct the violation to avoid a fine.  The bill is targeted towards violations that if corrected immediately, would pose no immediate harm to the employee.  The Commissioner would not be required to issue a warning and could fine an employer if the violation involves any of the following: failure to pay an employee on time; payment of wages by checks not convenient to the place of employment; failure to pay final wages in full; failure to pay amounts withheld for court ordered child support; failure to pay amounts withheld for insurance benefits; illegal withholding of wages to compensate employer for employee actions resulting in damage or loss; employing illegal aliens; or requiring employees to perform any illegal activity under threat of job loss.  This bill passed the Senate last week on a voice vote.

 

Henry Veilleux 
Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group

Chamber Insight

 

Senate Dives into House Budget Proposal

With crossover complete, the action in Concord experienced a minor lull in activity compared to the frenetic pace of the days leading up to crossover. The Senate has already begun its work on the State Budget and held several information briefings to familiarize themselves with the House budget proposal. Several more briefings are scheduled for next week, the bulk of which are informational agency briefings where state agency heads will brief Senators on the impact the budget will have on their operations.

Much speculation is focused right now on state revenue projections and whether the Senate will increase the projections used by the House. The House opted to use revenue projections that were approximately $300 million less than what the Governor used in his budget. Prevailing wisdom suggests the Senate will end up somewhere between the House and Governor's revenue projects, as they likely will be influenced by higher than expected March and April revenue returns. Time will tell how what tact the Senate takes but this is a key issue to watch as it will drive how much the Senate can afford to veer from the House budget proposal.

WARN Act revamp heads to House Labor

SB 121, which seeks to increase the employee threshold for the State's WARN act, will be heard in the House Labor committee next week. Regular readers will recall the State WARN act (along with the Federal version) requires employers to give advanced notice to employees of mass layoffs or plant closings. When creating the state WARN act a few years ago, the legislature strangely decided to lower the threshold that dictates what employers are impacted by the provision to 75 employees or more rather than mimic the Federal standard of 100 employees or more.

SB 121 increases the threshold to 100 employees or more and will put New Hampshire on par with surrounding New England states. The Chamber supports this measure and will ask the House Labor committee to act as quickly and decisively on this issue as the Senate did.

 

Michael Skelton

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

michaels@manchester-chamber.org