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Week One - January 16, 2008
With the 2009 legislative session in Concord now underway, it's
time for the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce to start delivering
to you its weekly legislative update known as The Advocate.
You will receive this electronic update every Friday afternoon,
and can use it to review what has happened in Concord that week,
read about our Chamber's lobbying efforts relating to those activities,
and preview what we are doing on behalf of our Chamber members
in the coming week.
This weekly update is made possible by the generous support of
Devine Millimet
& Branch, one of the state’s top law firms and our
Chamber’s contracted representative in Concord. If your
business has a legislative or local issue that needs strategic
consulting and attention, they are a valuable resource that can
help navigate you through both local and state processes.
This weekly update is designed and maintained by our friends
at ActiveEdge,
and we thank them for their help in delivering this piece to your
inbox every Friday!
This Week’s
Update
First of all, welcome to all our newly elected Senators and Representatives!
The Chamber has worked very closely over the last decade with
former Representative Bette Lasky, now known as Senator Bette
Lasky. Senator Lasky has been a co-sponsor of some of our most
important Chamber initiatives. We look forward to working closely
with her in her new role as Senator. Peggy Gilmour is no stranger
to our city or our Chamber. Many of us know Peggy from her days
at Home Health & Hospice, and are confident she will bring
her expertise on healthcare-related issues to the Senate, helping
shape our state’s policies on a topic that is of utmost
concern to all of our businesses. It was terrific to see Peggy,
as well as many of our new and old Representatives at our legislative
reception last week. We are excited about working closely with
our two senators and all of our local representatives, and we
have a terrific delegation from the greater Nashua area. Many
of our Representatives are on key committees, which is important
to the Chamber and the region.
This week at the State House, we saw introductory Committee organizational
meetings, and briefings before the respective committees by state
agencies, utilities, and other advocacy groups. We expect there
will be many more such briefings in order to educate the new members
to the key issues.
The Governor testified this week before the House Ways &
Means Committee on HB 30, which is a fast track bill to take unspent
money from some dedicated funds and transfer these monies to the
general fund. In addition to tapping unspent dedicated funds with
balances over $500,000, the bill also decreases Medicaid reimbursements
for out-patient services to the hospitals. More cuts are to come.
We understand that Health & Human Services has a $200 million
deficit below the maintenance budget. Needless to say, things
are very tough financially in the State - and they may soon get
even worse.
Representative
Harvey Comments On Workforce Housing
Nashua’s Representative Suzanne Harvey, the Vice Chair
of the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee, this week
told a gathering of business leaders that one of her top priorities
is the establishment of workforce housing. As you know, workforce
housing has been one of the major issues advocated by the Chamber,
and we always like to salute legislators (especially local legislators)
who are actively espousing goals which we think are important
for the State.
NH
Supreme Court Decides Significant Property Tax Case
This morning, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued its decision
in the case of NH Association of Counties v. State of New Hampshire.
The Court decided that the State did not violate the unfunded
mandates provision of the State Constitution when it extended
and increased the county funding obligations regarding Medicaid
long-term care. This case has significant implications going forward
because it is a potential harbinger of further downshifting of
costs from the State to local property taxpayers. Legislators
will need to be vigilant.
The Weeks
Ahead
Everyone is anxiously waiting to see the Governor’s 2010-2011
budget, as well as his additional efforts to balance the 2009
budget.
Hearings on bills are just now beginning so we will have much
to report to you besides the grim budget news in the weeks ahead.
If you have questions about this update, or comments to share
with us about other issues in Concord, please email Chris Williams
at cwilliams@nashuachamber.com. We want to be
sure we're representing you to the best of our ability, so do
not hesitate to reach out to us!
J.
Christopher Williams
President & CEO
Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce
151 Main St.
Nashua, NH 03060
Phone: 603.881.8333
Fax: 603.881.7323
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