Week Sixteen - May 2, 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!

DONE For Now

After what seems like years of trying to convince the State they are being premature in regulating “remotely readable devices” or RFID, the Senate voted this week unanimously to send HB 686 to interim study. Thank goodness. Now the work of regulating, noticing, and labeling RFID or remotely readable devices will be left to the RFID Commission which, by statute, must issue a final report by November 1st of this year. We will continue to work with the Commission, which is charged by statute with studying the benefits and potential privacy implications of RFID technology.

Study Continues Year 8!!!!!

Short-term victory was accomplished this week as the Senate Energy, Environment and Economic Development Committee voted to amend HB 1594, the infamous HazMat legislation. The amendment removes the onerous provisions that affected business - the new user fee and the expanded burdensome reporting requirements. It creates a regional Hazardous Materials Response Team and a hazardous materials emergency response fund which can fund the team through donations, grants and current funds. The amendment also creates a Commission comprised of legislators, businesses and executive agencies to study the current methods of funding the HazMat program. This is a great outcome for now. We will participate in the Commission deliberation.

Small Employer Wellness Insurance

Enactment of SB 540 is on the horizon, though the immediate effect of the proposal won’t be apparent to any purchaser in the small employer market until October of 2009 at the earliest. If all goes according to plan, at least one carrier must come forward to offer a yet-to-be-designed wellness plan to small employers “at or below a target rate of 10 percent of the prior year’s median state wide wage” as reported by the USDOL. If no carrier offers the plan at the prescribed rate, a hearing will be conducted by the Insurance Commissioner to determine whether all carriers in the small employer market should be mandated to cover the established plan at the target rate, or whether the plan design should be adjusted to assure that the target rate is adequate.

Last week, we reported that there was great health insurance carrier interest in securing a few adjustments to the bill. While not all requested changes were adopted, the Commerce Committee did make some changes that carriers thought were positive. The bill as passed out of Committee makes it a bit clearer that principles of rate adequacy will continue to be applied when rates are reviewed by the Insurance Department and carrier and provider expertise will be more integrated into the process that will go forward to develop the wellness coverage.

There are both short and long-term challenges to the initiative: in the short term the small employer expectations loom large, as the initiative has promised to deliver some relief; and, in the long term, there is some concern that the wellness initiatives may not produce the ameliorative effect on medical costs. While clarity on the latter issue cannot reasonably be expected any time soon, all of those wrangling over the bill during the last few weeks remain committed to giving it an honest try.

Mandate Review of Morbid Obesity Coverage

And, the still-not-yet final word on SB 312, the bill that would require coverage of treatment for obesity and morbid obesity...it is off to the care of the Insurance Department under a Commerce Committee request for “mandate review”. In that posture, the bill will be subject to an analysis (which will probably be contracted to an outside entity) looking at efficacy, and weighing the costs and benefits of the mandate. The Commerce Committee will expect a quick turnaround on the review, and bets are that it will eventually result in a favorable report and a similar bill for the next session. The bill is slated to go to interim study if the full House follows the Committee recommendation next week.

Governor Attempts to Cover Budget Shortfalls

Governor Lynch came before the House Finance Committee yesterday to propose a last-minute amendment to HB 381 as part of his plan to address state revenue shortfalls. Among the proposals put forward by the Governor are a 25¢ increase in the tobacco tax; a cut in payments that the legislature had previously approved for nursing homes; a cut in the discount that liquor retailers currently get when they purchase wine from the State; and, a plan to bond $80 million that the State sends to local school districts for school building aid. This proposal is going to be the subject of a lot of debate over the next few days leading up to a public hearing in House Finance on Tuesday, and a vote in that committee by the end of next week. These proposals raise some significant questions. For instance, while the nursing home cuts save $2 million to the general fund, they leave over $4 million in federal funds stranded in Washington. The safe bet is that the nursing homes and counties will debate this vigorously, arguing that this is penny wise but pound foolish.

We will be keeping a close eye on how this progresses.

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