Week Six - February 15, 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!

The midpoint of the legislative session is looming on the horizon, which is the time of year we call “crossover” – the point at which bills originating in the House cross over to the Senate, and vice versa. As we approach deadlines for bills before crossover, the number of bills moving forward is steadily decreasing. The Chamber had a good week – we won a few key bills and disposed of a few problematic ones.

Chamber #1 Issue: Rail Liability

Pardon the pun, but “all got aboard” this particular bill this week - the House Transportation Committee voted unanimously to pass the liability insurance cap for passenger rail service legislation. Committee member after committee member expressed their desire to get passenger rail up and running in the southern tier, and cast their vote to support this bill on the full House floor next week. Passage of HB 1404 is a critical step in the overall goal of reintroducing commuter rail to our state. The full House vote is next, and if passed, this bill is expected to face a tough fight in the Senate. However, we’ll celebrate our progress one step at a time!

DRA’s Reasonable Compensation

The Chamber has been working tirelessly on HB 1308, which addresses reasonable compensation for sole proprietorships, LLC’s, etc (you may recall earlier editions of this publication, in which we have focused a lot of attention on the negative impacts of this bill). The Chamber, along with the help of David Heath, and the CPA Society, has been meeting regularly with the House Ways & Means Committee and the Commissioner of DRA in order to craft a reasonable compromise that would not burden small business owners with record keeping, as well as unreasonably limit “reasonable compensation” for tax purposes. At the end of the day, no compromise could be reached in this complicated legislation, and the subcommittee therefore voted unanimously to put the bill into study. Much work will be done this summer on this issue, but barring any unforeseen developments, this issue is as good as dead for the rest of this session. Considering the negative impacts this bill could have had if it had passed under its original language, we’re happy to see this outcome.

Travel Pay at Base Salary Rate

The prime sponsor of HB 1342, which would have required travel pay for part-time workers at their base salary rate, took an unusual step by asking the Labor Committee at their executive session to kill the bill. He explained there were too many unintended consequences. The committee complied and killed the bill. This is another positive result for business owners.

Do Not Drive and Write (or Read) a Text Message

A bill that originally had no opposition, HB 1222, would prohibit driving while using both hands to send a text message. This bill took an unexpected and abrupt turn when the House Transportation Committee introduced a last-minute amendment that in effect prohibits cell phone or BlackBerry use while driving. The amended bill states one may not read or write a text message while driving. How does law enforcement know if you are reading a text message or if you are reading a caller ID of an incoming call as you look at your cell phone while in the car? This amendment could have a number of unintended consequences. In a citizen legislature, a last minute, non-subcommittee voted amendment can be a real problem. We will continue to monitor this bill and its progress.

Huge Win for the Governor

CACR 34, the constitutional amendment dealing with targeting aid to needy schools, sponsored by our own Senator Joe Foster, had its first hearing this week. The Governor testified in support of the constitutional amendment and it quickly passed the committee 3-2 on party lines. CACR 34 does have bipartisan support but will need a 2/3 majority vote to pass the Senate. Most insiders expect it to squeak by the Senate. The House is another matter entirely - no one is willing to make any bets at this point.

No Instant Rebates

The Senate quickly eliminated SB 397, a bill requiring instant rebates. As nice as it may have been to get an instant rebate at the time of purchase, it would have effectively eliminated a majority of rebates in NH from cars to appliances, cell phones, and even pool equipment. So, be sure you continue to file for those rebates immediately and read the fine print. The elimination of this bill is another good result for many NH businesses that provide rebates.

Manufacturing Education Council

Senator Gottesman’s bill to create an Advanced Manufacturing Education Advisory Council, SB 459, has moved successfully from the Senate to the House where we will advocate for passage. The council would be a tremendous boost to developing advanced manufacturing curriculum for our schools in order to train students for jobs in today’s complex manufacturing environment.

HB 1587, attempts to address the concerns of some that the personal health information of New Hampshire residents is not adequately protected under federal law. This bill continues to be reshaped by a subcommittee of the House Health , Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee. Subcommittee members have made a number of beneficial changes over the last week; nonetheless, significant concerns remain.

Those opposing the bill are very concerned with unintended consequences and expenses related to the bill that seem driven by a desire to address perceived deficiencies that haven’t really been defined. Ordinarily, one would expect that the strong reservations that have been voiced by all sectors of the health care delivery system would have tagged the measure as an interim study candidate - not so for this one.

There is a general sense that HB 1587 will head to the floor with an “Ought to Pass as Amended” recommendation. As Rep. Robert Bridgham, Chair of the Subcommittee, said after fielding a number of queries from a party perplexed over language in the current draft, “This is New Hampshire and we are going to tell you how to do it.” One got the sense, even though he didn’t say it, that he meant to add “now,” as well.

Chamber Spotlight of the Week

Part-time Workers Unemployment Benefits to be Expanded

There was standing room only at the public hearing for SB 502, which expands unemployment benefits for part-time workers. The Commissioner of Employment Security is strongly advocating for the passage of this bill. He stated that all employers are paying into the unemployment insurance fund for part-time workers, and therefore, part-timers who are laid off should be able to collect full benefits if they are looking for full-time work.

The unemployment law currently stipulates that an individual is not eligible to receive unemployment benefits unless they are ready, willing and able to accept full time employment. This bill would allow someone to be eligible for unemployment even if they were only willing to accept part-time work (presumably even where full-time work might be available). An individual who accepted part-time work (even where full-time work was available) would still be considered partially unemployed, and eligible to collect a partial unemployment benefit. This proposal would therefore allow people to transition from full-time work to part-time work and still receive a benefit.

Only nine other states have such generous unemployment benefits. The real question is, “What will this cost employers?” The fiscal note says the increased payout to workers will be over $7 million, with 90% of the cost being borne by employers. We expect this will pass the Senate Committee with an amendment that allows the discount rate to continue even if the unemployment compensation fund falls below the statutory thresholds.

We will likely be getting more active on this issue as it progresses, and we invite your feedback on whether or not this issue might affect your business. You can share your opinion on this issue by sending an email to me at cwilliams@nashuachamber.com.

J. Christopher Williams
President & CEO
Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce
151 Main St.
Nashua, NH 03060
Phone: 603.881.8333
Fax: 603.881.7323