GMCC Capitol Insight

Sponsors

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

Will Stewart
Greater Manchester
Chamber of Commerce

State highway plan still needs funds

Henry Veilleux, Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group

The Senate Transportation Committee held a public hearing yesterday on HB 1716, an updated 10-year highway plan for 2013-2022. They then voted 4-0 to recommend passage with amendment.

As passed by the House and recommended by the Senate Transportation Committee, the plan makes completion of the I-93 expansion from Salem to Manchester a priority. Although the state is about $250 million short of the money needed to complete the project, the plan directs the Department of Transportation to complete the project in the current time frame. The Senate Transportation Committee added $250 million to the current $190 million authorized for federal highway grant anticipation bonds (also known as GARVEE bonds).

These bonds can be issued from time to time for financing project costs related to the widening of Interstate 93 from Manchester to the Massachusetts border. The state cannot issue the bonds, however, unless federal highway dollars for New Hampshire increase over the current level of $143 million a year. Legislators agreed to allow $30 million of turnpike toll credits to be used for the state match for federal funds, which will slow work on several turnpike projects including rehabilitating Millyard bridges at I-293 Exit 4 in Manchester and work south of the Little Bay Bridges on the Spaulding Turnpike in Newington.

The plan is about $1 billion short of what is needed to complete all of the projects over 10 years. Still, lawmakers have not taken any action to increase revenue or to cover the costs of the plan. Projects that are not fully funded include the Little Bay bridges project on the Spaulding Turnpike, widening I-93 from Bow through Concord, the reconstruction of Exit 6 and 7 on I-293 in Manchester, and widening the F.E. Everett turnpike to 3 lanes in both directions from Merrimack to Bedford. Projects deferred due to the lack of money include a $16.5 million 600-space park-and-ride structure in Manchester, the Conway bypass and final phases of the Broad Street reconstruction in Nashua. The Senate Transportation Committee added a new Exit 4A in Londonderry on the I-93 expansion project to the 10-year highway plan. The Senate is expected to vote on HB 1716 next Wednesday.

Right to Work battle done?

It looks like the ongoing battle over "right to work" legislation may have come to an end. This past Wednesday, the Senate tabled a House passed bill that would enact a so-called "right to work" law preventing labor unions from collecting partial dues for collective bargaining costs from nonmember employees.

Last year, the House and Senate both passed similar legislation and Governor John Lynch vetoed it. In November, the House failed to override the veto. Senate leaders simply came to the conclusion that nothing has changed in the legislature, and the "right to work" legislation passed by the House earlier this Session will meet the same fate as last year. They decided to put their energy and time into other bills. It will be interesting to see how the House reacts to this move. They will either drop the issue and move on to other bills, or try to force the Senate to vote on the bill by tacking it on as amendment to a bill the Senate really wants. Stay tuned...

Nonprofits are businesses, not government entities

Will Stewart, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

On Tuesday, the Senate Public and Municipal Affairs Committee briefly heard public testimony on House Bill 1308, a bill which seeks to subject certain nonprofit businesses to the state's Right to Know law.

The goal of the bill is to make fully transparent the operations of certain entities organized to perform taxpayer-funded services. The scope of the bill, however, is broader than intended or necessary, which is why the Chamber opposes HB 1308.

As currently written, the bill would include "primarily government-funded" nonprofits in the state's definition of a "public body." It is public bodies that are subjected to the Right to Know law.

To come under the expanded definition of "public body", a nonprofit must meet two tests: (1) it must be formed by an "action" of a state or local governmental agency, department or political subdivision; and (2) it must be "primarily" funded by a state or local governmental agency, department or political subdivision.

lt is unclear what these terms mean. What constitutes governmental "action" - an act of the legislature or a declaration of the Secretary of State incorporating a nonprofit? And with regard to a nonprofit being "primarily" funded by government, what government funds will be used to determine the applicability of the bill - service contracts with nonprofit organizations? Grants? Medicare and Medicaid?

What is clear is that HB 1308, as drafted, can be interpreted to cover many more organizations than intended.

Additional concerns include the fact that the deliberations of the boards of covered nonprofit businesses would be required to be held in public, which could lead to difficulty in obtaining board members and potential donors, whose donations might also be exposed to Right to Know.

Likewise, subjecting nonprofits to Right to Know requests will mean increased costs to these often cash-strapped businesses as Right-to-Know requests are frequently expensive and time consuming.

Given the late start to Tuesday's public hearing on HB 1308, and the fact that there were many people there to testify, only the bill's sponsor and one opponent, former Sen. Joe Foster, were allowed to testify. The hearing will be re-opened this coming Tuesday, April 17, at 9 a.m.