It's getting down to the wire for the 2013 session of the New Hampshire Legislature and the House and Senate will both have long session days next week. In the Senate, the length of the day will largely be due to sheer volume with approximately 80 bills out of committees and ready for floor votes. Luckily, the Senate recently began using a consent calendar to vote on non-controversial bills in a batch rather than individually and that process should dispense with about a quarter of the day's workload. The House has far fewer bills to consider, but several are highly contentious and with 400 members it could take a while. Here are some highlights of scheduled activity:

• HB 501, instituting a state minimum hourly rate - This bill reinstates the state minimum wage but keeps it at the current federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 3-2 to recommend the bill be killed. The House previously killed two minimum wage bills, and it amended this bill to establish a minimum of $7.25 rather than $8.25 per hour. A fourth bill on the topic, SB 77, is still in play having been laid on the table in the Senate. A partisan debate on this bill is likely.
• HB 306, relative to New Hampshire's regional greenhouse gas initiative - This bill makes certain modifications to the RGGI program. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 3-2 to recommend the bill pass with amendment dealing with national or regional forestry protocols referenced in the RGGI model rule.
• HB 583, relative to proceedings of medical injury screening panels - This bill would require that screening panels decide cases based on offers of proof, or documentary evidence, rather than evidentiary hearings with live witness testimony. This is a continuation of the struggle between trial attorneys and medical providers regarding how best to streamline medical malpractice cases and reduce the impact of litigation on health care costs. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 to recommend the bill be re-referred for further consideration in the committee.
• HB 617, increasing the rate of the road toll - This bill would increase the gas tax, officially called the road toll, from 18 to 30 cents per gallon in increments from July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2018.  Tax revenues from the increase in rates would be allocated for road and bridge repair. The Senate Ways & Means Committee voted 3-2 to recommend the bill be re-referred for further consideration in the committee.
• SB 126, relative to business practices between motor vehicle manufacturers, distributors, and dealers - This bill is an effort by the NH Automobile Dealers Association to modify the 40-year-old "Dealer Bill of Rights" statute, presumably to level the playing field in their negotiations with auto manufacturers. Two amendments have been proposed. The majority amendment makes a number of technical changes to the Senate version of the bill. The minority amendment would remove agricultural and construction equipment from the bill for now, with the intent that separate legislation dealing with such equipment be brought forward in 2014, in order to recognize the differences in the marketplace for automobiles versus equipment and to avoid a potential constitutional challenge to the change in the law. The House Commerce Committee voted 15-2 to recommend the bill pass with the technical changes but without exempting agricultural and construction equipment.
• SB 152, relative to video lottery and table gaming - A super-committee consisting of members of the House Finance and House Ways & Means Committees voted 23-22 to recommend that this bill, which would legalize casino gambling in New Hampshire under certain parameters, be killed. The minority recommends the bill pass with amendment. A lot has been written on this issue in previous editions of Capitol Insight and elsewhere, and the details will not be repeated here. Suffice to say, this is the debate to watch next week.
• SB 100, authorizing electronic payment of payroll - This bill would allow employers to choose the most cost-effective method of payment of wages to employees, eliminating the existing right of an employee to demand a paper paycheck. The House Labor Committee voted 13-7 to recommend the bill be killed with the minority recommending the bill pass. This will be another partisan debate.
• SB 143, relative to benefits for unemployed persons who are attempting to establish a business - This bill would allow certain unemployed individuals to collect unemployment benefits while working full-time to develop their own small business, rather than job-hunting, within certain parameters and program-wide limitations. The House Labor Committee voted 11-9 to recommend the bill pass with the minority recommending it be killed.

The House will meet on Wednesday, May 22, at 10 AM and the Senate will meet on Thursday, May 23, at 10 AM. Both sessions will be live-streamed at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ (Links are not available until the session begins.)