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Sheehan Phinney
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Bruce Berke
Sheehan Phinney 
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Sheehan Phinney 
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Will Stewart 
Greater Manchester
Chamber of Commerce

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Business-friendly bills passed despite legislative distractions

Bruce Berke, Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group 

 

The fat lady is warming up her vocal chords while others are remembering one of Yogi Berra's more famous sayings "it ain't over 'til it's over".

 

What are we speaking of?  Well the 2012 legislative session, of course, and we are much closer to the fat lady's position than Yogi's assessment as the House and Senate finished their regular slate of business this past Wednesday and will only be returning at the end of June to address any veto messages from the Governor.

 

As we know, these last two legislative sessions have been tumultuous at times but when the business community looks beyond the headlines that are the attention-getters, they will likely find that the past two years have been fairly business friendly.   Let's take a look.

  • Defining an independent contractor - Almost since the day the law was changed several years ago to require a 12 point gauntlet to determine that someone should be deemed an independent contractor rather than an employee, some in the Legislature have been attempting to amend the law so that it reflects realistic practices in business today.  This year they met with success.  The list of criteria has been reduced from 12 to 7 and removes some of the more gray items.
  •  Tax credit timing - Business enterprise tax credits will now be allowed against business profits tax liability on a quarterly basis rather than waiting until the end of the year.  A small but helpful change.
  • Net Operating Loss Carryforward - Last year the legislature increased the NOL carryforward from $1m to $10m and this year they moved up the effective date for businesses from July 1, 2013 to January 1, 2013.
  • Internet Access - This legislature enshrined in law that access to the internet shall not be taxable.  Some providers had been collecting this tax for the Department of Revenue. 
  • Constitutional Amendment Prohibiting An Income Tax -  CACR 13 was the only constitutional amendment that passed both the House and Senate and will go on the General Election ballot in November.  The vote in the House was 256-110.  The vote in the Senate was 19-4.  If adopted by the voters, the amendment will prohibit an income tax from being adopted.
  • BET Thresholds Increased - Increases in the threshold amounts for taxable liability under the business enterprise tax have passed this session, thus protecting the smallest of our small businesses in NH from being taxed out of existence before they even get their business off the ground.
  • LLC Update - This Legislature saw fit to update our state's limited liability laws, which will help small, mid-sized and large businesses. 
  • R&D Tax Credits - NH's research and development tax credits were slated to expire one year from this July but legislation passed this year will delay that expiration until July 1, 2015.
  • Health Care - Legislation had been introduced to prohibit NH from establishing any working mechanism or relationship with the federal government or within state government as it related to health care exchanges (pursuant to the federal health care reform).   Eventually that prohibitive sounding bill was amended to permit our state agencies have some interaction with the federal government in the development of federal health care reform and this is a step in the right direction that will provide options for businesses.

Many times over the years, the terms workhorse and showhorse have been used to describe legislators and legislative efforts.  The small sampling above demonstrates that despite some of the antics our faithful readers may have heard about in Concord, the majority of our elected officials are workhorses and good results do emerge from our legislative process.
Tallying the legislative score

Will Stewart, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce 

 

While legislators will return to Concord later in the month to take up any vetoes from the governor, the 2012 legislative session is, for all intents and purposes, finished.

 

For those of you keeping score at home, this session the Chamber has batting average of nearly .600 - 58 percent, in fact - with regard to bills on which we took a position this year.

 

In all, the Chamber took a position on 24 bills, supporting 14 bills and opposing 10. Of the 14 bills we supported, six (43 percent) were passed. We had better luck with the 10 bills we opposed, eight (80 percent) of which were killed in one way or another.

 

Of course, the win/loss percentage mentioned above isn't exactly cut and dry. For example, some of the bills we opposed, like House Bill 1617, which sought to repeal the Certificate of Need (CON) process for new medical facilities, while ultimately passed, was passed in an amended version that is more acceptable (repeal in three years' time) than the original version. Likewise, SB 295 which sought to increase and extend the state's R&D Tax Credit program was killed, though a provision extending the tax credit until 2015 was tacked on to another bill. So these types of compromises must be taken into account as well.

 

In any event, here's the breakdown. Note that not all of the "passed" bills have made it to the governor's desk at present:

 

Passed by legislature

 

Supported by Chamber

  • SB 48, exempts certain telephone service providers from laws regulating rates, charges, billing, and privacy.
  • HB 1418, increases the threshold amounts for taxation under the business enterprise tax.
  • HB 1221, clarifies that a taxpayer may apply the credit for the business enterprise tax against the business profits tax on a quarterly basis when making estimated tax payments.
  • SB 203, revises laws governing limited liability companies.
  • SB 204, makes changes to Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, relative to secured transactions, as proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
  • SB 291, provides municipalities with a way to address the impacts of new developments through the use of impact fees for project-related improvements to state highways located within a municipality.                                                                                                                                  

Opposed by Chamber

  • HB 1617, repeals  the certificate of need law           
  • HB 648, prohibits public utilities from petitioning for permission to take private land or property rights for the construction or operation of certain transmission facilities.

 

Killed by legislature

 

Supported by Chamber

  • SB 405, establishes a workforce investment tax credit against the business profits tax for contributions made to the community college system of NH
  • HB 1358, establishes a committee to study the costs of health care.
  • SB 163, relative to the New Hampshire health benefit exchange.
  • HB 1305, reestablishes the exemption from property taxation for telecommunications poles and conduits and establishes a committee to study how utilities are taxed by the state and municipalities.
  • SB 295, increases the research and development tax credit against the business profits tax. The bill repeals the prospective repeal of the research and development tax credit.
  • HB 1539, Requires the state building code review board to consider economic impacts on the public in its review of amendments to the state building code.
  • SB 205, revises the New Hampshire business corporations act, RSA 293-A.
  • SB 213, requires state agencies to issue a warning before imposing certain fines or penalties. The bill also requires agencies to waive first time paperwork violations.

Opposed by Chamber

  • HB 1282, permits municipalities to decide whether to approve workforce housing and defines "community" for purposes of planning and zoning laws.
  • HB 1323, requires employers who offer benefits to full-time employees to offer the same benefits on a pro-rated basis to part-time employees.
  • HB 1238, requires Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) to divest its fossil, hydro, and biomass generation assets by December 1, 2013.
  • HB 1641, adds requirements that the carry forward of certain net operating loss deductions be related to the creation of new jobs.
  • HB 1445, requires proprietors of retail establishments to give refunds in the form of cash or credit (as opposed to store credit) for returned merchandise under certain circumstances.
  • HB 1561, eliminates regional planning commissions.
  • HB 1308, subjecting certain nonprofits to the state's right to know law.
  • SB 177, relative to training of directors and officers of nonprofit corporations.

As the legislature has adjourned for the year, so to will the electronic version of Capitol Insight. The Chamber would like to once again extend its thanks to Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green and the Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group for its sponsorship and support of this program. Without member support, programs like Capitol Insight would simply not be possible.

 

A full recap of the all the key legislative action from 2012 will make its way to you later this summer with the print edition of Capitol Insight that will detail all of the Chamber's top priorities from this session.