At least three bills deal with the so-called LLC tax this session: HB 557, HB 611 and SB 125. Each bill would permit greater deductions for personal services rendered by owners for their businesses. The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote on HB 557 and HB 661 this week, so we should have a pretty good idea where this issue is heading. The Senate Ways and Means Committee endorsed SB 125 yesterday, March 7, and it now goes to the full Senate for a vote.

There will be a lot of other activity the next couple weeks. The deadline for both bodies to act on bills is March 31. Here is the scorecard thus far:

Defeated or likely to be defeated:

HB 249: Eliminating the ability of assessors to perform partial revaluations using statistical updates. The House killed this bill, largely for economic reasons. Statistical updates are less expensive than requiring towns to perform partial revaluations "by measure and listing."

HB 321: Classifying non-tidal wetlands into "contributing" (those with considerable environmental value) and "noncontributing" (those with little or no environmental value). Passage presumably would help developers by reducing the total wetlands presenting obstacles to development. This bill was sent to study, which probably means it will be killed. It does not need to be voted on by the House Resources, Recreation and Economic Development committee until November 2, 2011.

HB 639: requiring impact studies for large-scale retail development. This bill would have required a municipality, as part of its review of a site plan for a large-scale retail development, to demand a comprehensive impact study for "large-scale retail developments." Projects having a gross floor area of 75,000 square feet or more, including projects passing that threshold via expansion, would have been affected by this bill. The Municipal and County Government Committee voted unanimously to kill this bill, and the full House is scheduled to vote on it next Tuesday, March 15.

Still alive:

HB 316: eliminating the requirement that property owners provide access to assessors in order to preserve the right to challenge tax assessments. Instead, property owners would be required to fill out an inventory form, failing which they would pay a penalty of $10 - $50, depending on the value of the real estate. This bill passed the Municipal and County Government Committee last Wednesday on a 14-1 vote with a key amendment preserving a taxpayer's right to contest taxes even if an inventory form is not filed. If the bill ultimately passes in this form, it would be a big victory for taxpayers.

HB 457: lowering the interest rate on delinquent tax payments to either 6% or 9%, depending on the tax. A committee vote is expected this week.

SB 19: Requiring "prime wetlands" to be an area having "very poorly drained soils."

Passed the Senate. Now in the House.

SB 70: Shortening from 28 to 7 the number of days a landlord must store property left behind by a tenant. Currently in the Senate Commerce Committee.

SB 109: Establishing a committee to study the foreclosure procedure in New Hampshire, including possibly switching to a judicial process versus the current non-judicial process.

Passed the Senate. It is now in the House.

SB 133: Re-establishing the exemption from property taxation for telecommunications poles and conduits. Affected utilities want this; municipalities oppose it. The Senate Ways and Means committee voted in favor of this bill, and the full senate will vote tomorrow, March 9. The Municipal Association strongly opposes to this bill.