Sponsor's Insight

Much happened in the NH House last week regarding overriding the Governor's veto of Right to Work legislation and it was well covered by the media.  And, of course, the Senate is still working on the budget and they are wrapping it up quickly.  What also happened this week was the passage of few business related bills that have been in play for several years and will most likely become laws.  These bills may seem narrowly focused on a few industries (and scores of chamber members) but many of us will be impacted in some way by their passage.

In the House:

SB 22 is about alternative regulation of small, incumbent, local telephone companies (think Granite State Telephone in Weare).   This bill provides that these companies may ask the NH Public Utilities Commission to more quickly offer more services, such as data and video, to their customers while protecting ratepayers who may just want plain old telephone service. The House Science and Technology committee voted 15 to 0 to proceed and the NH House agreed with a majority voice vote.  The bill will be in the Governor's office shortly.

SB 120:  Present regulations only allow the advertising or promotion of liquor or beverages at reduced prices within a restaurant's licensed premises, unless it is part of a "champagne brunch" or similar package.  This bill would allow restaurant owners to advertise liquor and beverage prices separately from any other advertisement or promotion.  The bill allows the liquor commission to suspend any single advertising or promotion that is not in the spirit of public health or safety.  The bill also includes a local opt out by allowing the legislative body of a city or town to adopt provisions prohibiting exterior signs advertising reduced price liquor or beverages.  Beginning upon enactment and lasting up to next July 1st, the governing body of the city or town may adopt temporary prohibitions on such exterior advertising until the legislative body votes whether to adopt a permanent prohibition, or the temporary prohibition expires, which ever occurs sooner.  The House Commerce Committee voted 17-0 to amend the bill and it passed by a margin of 358-15 on the House floor.  It now heads back to the NH Senate for concurrence on the bill's changes.

In the Senate:

HB74: Skiing cheap!  Seasons passes at State owned Cannon Mountain are now available for a 25% discount to NH residents if you but one by December 15^th.  More details to follow but this is a good way to give an incentive to residents to use our state park in the Notch!

HB635:  As a cost saving and government efficiency measure, Governor Lynch is being directed by this legislation to come up with a plan to consolidate certain state functions.  Here is a list of he is supposed to be doing, taken from actual language of the bill:

I. The plan shall address:

(a) The creation of a shared service center focusing on the activities associated with certain participants in the legal system, including the tasks performed by the courts in fine collections, by the judicial council and the department of administrative services in reimbursement for indigent defense support, by the department of corrections for restitution payments, and by the department of health and human services for child services.

(b) The creation of a shared service center focusing on the state's licensing activities, excluding motor vehicles.

(c) The creation of a shared service center for all state procurement and payment practices.

(d) Any additional state agencies and programs that could be combined or consolidated in order to achieve greater economies of scale, enhanced efficiency, and lower costs.

II. The consolidation plan shall assess the feasibility, costs, and benefits of establishing each of the shared service centers proposed under paragraph I and any statutory and regulatory changes required for implementation. The plan shall be submitted to the president of the senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the senate clerk, the house clerk, and the state library on or before November 1, 2011.

2 Appropriation. The sum of $1 is hereby appropriated to the office of the governor for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, for the purpose of hiring consultants to aid in developing the consolidation plan required under section 1 of this act. The governor is authorized to draw a warrant for said sum out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Both the House and Senate passed this bill by a majority voice vote and now heads to the Governor for his signature.

As summer arrives, we at the Capitol Group hope all Chambers members have a safe and profitable season.

Chamber Insight

Following up on last week's Chamber Insight report, the Senate Judiciary committee voted 4-0 to re-refer HB 648 back to committee. The recommendation to re-refer will come up on the Senate floor this week.

As you may recall, HB 648 was filed late in the 2011 legislative session in response to the Northern Pass energy project. As you may know, the Northern Pass project seeks to bring renewable energy from Canada to the New England electrical grid through New Hampshire. The 180 mile long transmission project utilizes 140 miles of existing right of way owned Public Service of New Hampshire. The other 40 miles (near the Canadian border) will require new rights of way to be established. HB 648 prevents public utilities from using eminent domain for transmission projects.

The Chamber opposes HB 648 as its makes unnecessary changes to the current eminent domain laws, includes problematic language that the PUC cannot define, and targets a project already moving through the approval process which sends a terrible message to the business community and those look to invest in New Hampshire.

By re-referring HB 648 the Senate Judiciary committee will give itself the opportunity to study the measure until January and then decide whether to tweak the language or scrap the bill all together in 2012. Absent new information, the Chamber sees no reason for HB 648 and will continue to oppose the legislation as currently drafted.

The State Senate revealed their budget proposal last week which includes $75 million in spending above the House proposal. Deep cuts to the University System of New Hampshire and uncompensated care to Hospitals remained in the Senate proposal along with significant cuts to other aspects of the Health and Human services budget and other areas of state government.

One bit of good news from the Senate proposal was the inclusion of language from SB 126, which increases the net operating loss carry forward limit from $1 million to $10 million. NOL reform has been a priority of the Chamber over the past few legislative sessions. Having this language included in the Senate budget proposal is a significant victory for the business community as it will aid businesses of all shapes and sizes in achieving long term profitability and growth.

The full Senate will vote on the budget proposal this week. Once approved, the proposal will head back to the House where House members will vote to concur or non concur with the Senate version and seek a committee of conference to hash out the differences between their two proposals. While the hot rumor of a week or two ago was House concurrence with the Senate budget proposal was in play, Speaker O'Brien publicly poured cold water on that idea last week stating that he thought a committee of conference would be necessary. What does that mean? With a committee of conference, essentially everything is back on the table. While the House and Senate are only $75 million apart, there are substantive policy differences in each of their proposals that each side will want to fight for. Expect this debate to last well into June.

Michael Skelton

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

michaels@manchester-chamber.org