Week Twelve - March 28, 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 first week after crossover started with your Chamber of Commerce hosting a wonderful legislative dinner, including music provided by the Nashua Symphony. We had a terrific turnout of legislators - House members, Committee Chairs and Senators Gottesman, Foster and Clegg – all from the greater Nashua area. Senator Joe Foster and Representative Bette Lasky gave the legislative overview from the Senate and House perspectives. Both speakers discussed the huge issues facing the state and the legislature - solving the school funding issues, the retirement system problems and declining revenues. The solutions chosen by the legislature will dictate the future impact on the business community. The Chamber is fortunate to have such a collaborative relationship with our delegation.

Near Victory

The Chamber President, Chris Williams, was the lone voice of business testifying before the Senate Ways and Means Committee on HB 185, a bill which allows businesses who create new jobs in an area designated by the city to be “economic revitalization zones,” to obtain tax credits against their BPT and BET. Your Chamber was behind the initiative a few years ago that originally created this tax incentive legislation. It is one of the few tools the state has to incentivize for business. HB 185 passed the Senate this week. It has now been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.

Meeting With The House Speaker

A business coalition of the Nashua and Manchester Chambers, the BIA, the Auto Dealers, the Grocers, the Retail Merchants and Restaurant and Lodging Association met with House Speaker Terie Norelli and her leadership team to voice our support for a constitutional amendment to solve the education funding problem that has lingered over the state for over a decade. The coalition expressed support for a constitutional amendment and targeted aid to those communities who need the aid the most. It is important for the business community to have certainty. Therefore, this issue needs to be solved this year. The state also needs to present the citizens of New Hampshire with a constitutional amendment that defines the structure in which to move forward. Then the citizens will have their voice heard. You will be hearing a lot more from us on this issue.

CACR 34, the constitutional amendment sponsored by our own Senator Joe Foster, which passed the Senate on a 19 to 5 vote, had its first public airing before the House Finance Committee. The room was packed. The Chamber, along with other business groups, supported CACR 34. The Finance Committee has scheduled work sessions for the next three weeks.

More Radio Frequency Device Talk

The RFID (radio frequency identification device) Commission met this week. Most of the discussion revolved around labeling and notice requirements for all products that use RFID chips. It will be interesting to see if the Commission or the Senate, where HB 686 is now residing, can come up with labeling and notice requirements that work for all segments of industry. For example, what should the notice or label be? A graphic recognizable symbol, words saying the product contains RFID, a sign in a store that says products may contain RFID, notice on a website, notice on a sales slip, notice in an owner’s manual? Who should give the notice - the manufacturers - the retailer? Take an automobile, for example - RFID chips in cars are used mainly for recall purposes, and may be in the tires, the computer system, or the air bag, all of which are manufactured by different companies. Who has the labeling or notice requirement? The manufacturer, or the retailer? What happens if the automobile is resold? How would the new buyer be notified of the RFID presence, particularly if it is a private sale?

Another concern in the legislation passed by the House is the definition of a “remotely readable device.” It states a “remotely readable device means any item, application or mark that is passively or actively capable of transmitting an individual’s identity, characteristics, status, group membership, travel history, or location, or capable of storing or transmitting a number, symbol, signal, pattern, or other identifier that could be linked with any such identification or location information.” A remotely readable device includes, but is not limited to, technologies that use radio waves ....” This definition is really broad.

Does this include gas meter readers? What else…swipe-cards used to enter dorms at colleges? Besides the onerous labeling and notice requirements, the cost of complying with this legislation will drive up the prices for all consumer products. Do we need this on top of increased utility, health care and transportation cost? More regulation will just strangle an already gasping economy. We will be the first in the country to regulate notice. This bill is not reflective of our business-friendly New Hampshire image.

Nod Given To Utility Penalty Bill

On Thursday, a subcommittee of the House Science, Technology & Energy Committee voted to recommend approval of an amended version of SB 177, which would increase the potential penalties that the PUC can levy against utilities for violations of PUC orders or state statutes. The bill, which did not provoke any controversy before the subcommittee, would increase the potential penalties from $25,000 to $250,000 against utilities, and from $10,000/day to $100,000/violation against officers or agents of the utility who willfully violate the law or PUC orders. The Commission’s penalty powers have been utilized infrequently over the years, and generally against the smallest utilities regulated by the PUC. The assumption seems to be that this increase will have a deterrent effect concerning those rare occasions where a utility runs afoul of a Commission order.

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