Welcome to the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce

Week Five - February 8, 2008

The Advocate is a new electronic tool provided to our business members and regional state legislators. This publication, sponsored by Devine Millimet & Branch and designed by ActiveEdge, is intended to keep you up to date with all the latest happenings in Concord concerning legislation impacting businesses. We hope you enjoy this weekly electronic publication!

As February swings into gear, the Committees and full bodies are beginning to move a bit more quickly on many bills. Deadlines are nearing so bills must move. Unlike other states, every bill introduced in the New Hampshire legislature has to be voted on. So, here we go . . .

Double Taxation

SB 308, sponsored by our own Senator Joe Foster, had a good hearing this week. The bill reinstates in the tax code, language that states clearly that the state may not double-tax parent and subsidiary companies on their gross business profits.

Why was this language originally removed in the first place? Last session, the Department of Revenue had the legislature pass HB 598 as a technical correction. In doing so, the language was removed in the statute that stated unequivocally that double taxation was not allowed on dividend income received from an affiliated business that had already been taxed. Senator Foster’s bill, SB 308, which the Chamber supports, would clarify in that same statute that double taxation is not allowed. We will continue to work with Senator Foster to see this bill all the way to the Governor’s desk for signature.

Privacy

rivacy interests continue to generate significant discussion in the legislative halls. A House Health and Human Services subcommittee is moving through a series of work sessions on HB 1587 with the purpose of reaching consensus amongst a potentially fractious group of interested parties. Earlier this week, it seemed that the New Hampshire Hospital Association and the New Hampshire Medical Society had gone some distance to offer conciliatory amendments that might be acceptable to their interests and to Rep. Cindy Rosenwald and Rep. Neal Kurk, the principal legislators pushing for the bill’s passage. But then, maybe not. At a work session on Thursday a letter listing those two entities, along with a number of other associations, indicated that they were backing away from supporting the changes under discussion. The legislation started out with some pretty aggressive strictures around the use and disclosure of patient health information, and while some amendments under consideration may soften the impact, there continues to be substantial grumbling about the potential effects of the bill.

There is considerable chatter that HB 1587, including the amendments under discussion, is moving forward without adequate analysis of the need for the protections the bill would require. In fact, discussions during subcommittee work sessions have already revealed that certain provisions of the bill may well require significant programming adjustments to existing electronic healthcare delivery systems. This bill is very problematic.

RFID Back Again

The legislative consideration of what to do about the use of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) technology, if anything, has certainly followed a tortured procedural path through the legislative halls for the past two years. A Commission was created last session and has been meeting regularly since last fall to review existing laws and consider whether any new provisions are necessary to address any consumer concerns around the emerging technology. Last session’s HB 686, addressing the use of RFID’s, was heard again by members of the House Commerce Committee on Thursday. The bill had originally gone to the floor in January with a report of Inexpedient to Legislate (which means the House committee recommended the bill be killed), but was instead recommitted to a House committee to address a growing momentum to move some of the work product of the Commission to Study RFID this session, rather than wait until the Commission’s final report, which is due in November.

There was standing room only from the business community at this week’s hearing. There was total support for the RFID Commission amendment which prohibits human implantation of remotely readable devices without permission and prohibits illegal use of credit card scanning and re-encoding devices.

hile the whole question of how to regulate RFID’s is undeniably making progress, some of the legislative privacy advocates in the House believe that more can be done this session, specifically around the issue of labeling and notice. Rep. Neal Kurk of Weare urged the Committee to consider labeling and notice requirements immediately. While nothing is ever sure legislatively, most observers think the Committee will defer to the Commission and pass its amendment. And, given the pace of the Commission, it’s possible that some consensus around labeling and notice will emerge in time for an amendment to HB 686 in the Senate. Stay tuned, as RFID impacts almost every business in our Chamber membership.

Energy Bills Slowly Working Through House Committee

This week the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee considered 4 bills concerning New Hampshire’s electric industry. There was an incredible amount of testimony, discussion and proposed changes to the bills, but no definitive action. HB 1561 (creating an Energy Efficiency Commission), HB 1460 (allowing PSNH to build a North Country biomass generation unit), HB 1268 (creating $6,000 incentives for small residential renewable generation installation) all had lengthy hearings and work sessions. None of these bills had a committee vote, and further work sessions will be held in the next couple of weeks.

HB 1434 (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative) was the subject of a late-day work session. As of “press time,” a vote has not yet been scheduled.

Chamber Spotlight of the Week

Gone Are A Few Bad Ones…

The House disposed of a number of the onerous business bills targeted for opposition by the Chamber this week. Killed were:

HB 503 -	Beverage Tax The bill would have established a solid waste management fund and assessed a surcharge for the disposal of solid waste was shot down after a number of parliamentary moves. A new beverage tax was just not palatable in an election year.
HB 1499 -	Electric Tax This bill would have made a basic change in the existing electricity consumption tax and add a new tax on electricity generation. The House felt that this bill was not consistent with good energy policy, raised double taxation issues, and it would complicate the ability of New Hampshire's electricity generators to compete in the regional energy market. Additionally, a rate increase for customers could be in the cards. Status quo is definitely preferable. Thank goodness, the House showed the wisdom of “no change”.
HB 1506 -	Do-Not-Mail The House decided the adverse impact created by a proposed “do-not-mail” registry far outweighed the potential benefits of reducing unwanted mail and protecting our natural resources. HB 1506 would negatively and directly impact the Post Office and its employees. It appears we’ll just have to keep getting junk mail.
HB 1531 & HB 1534 -	ID Theft Both are dealing with identity theft, were too burdensome to employers. Both bills will be studied. We will keep an eye on these this summer.
HB 1544 -	Energy Efficiency This bill would have developed some very restrictive energy efficiency measures. The House deemed it totally unnecessary as there are already active dockets at the PUC on the issue.
HB 1564 -	Regulate Cell Phones Regulation of cell phones by the public utilities commission went down in flames. The Telecommunications Oversight Committee will take up this issue of regulating a competitive industry if necessary.
HB 1584 -	Electronic Waste Representative Suzanne Harvey of Nashua amended her own bill which would have established a fund to cover the costs of recycling electronic waste, to instead create a commission to study electronic waste. This was a great outcome, and we applaud Rep. Harvey for her amendment.
SB 397 -	Instant Rebate The Senate Commerce Committee unceremoniously disposed of SB 397, which would have required instant rebates for goods bought. Retail groups, manufacturing organizations, cell phone companies, and the Chamber all opposed this bill and fortunately the committee agreed that it was too much of an intrusion on NH commerce to pass SB 397. Hopefully, the full Senate will agree next week to kill this one, when the bill goes to the Senate floor with the recommendation that it be killed.