Week Twelve - March 26, 2010

This electronic publication, known as The Advocate, is brought to you each Friday by your Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with our friends at Devine Millimet & Branch, and ActiveEdge. Please use this piece to review what has happened in Concord this past 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 Week’s Update

This week, the legislature reached the mid-point of the legislative session.

All the bills that have survived the process to this point have now been sent to the second body for review - the House bills are now in the Senate, and the Senate bills are now in the House. This is a good opportunity for us to take stock of where we are and to look at how we’ve done as a Chamber during this first half.

• The Senate passed SB 383, the “Net Operating Loss” bill. This is the Chamber’s top priority bill for the 2010 session. If this bill becomes law, it will raise the amount that businesses can claim by way of net operating loss deductions from $1M to $10M. The bill as passed also includes language that prevents the expiration of the economic redevelopment zone program, which itself was another Nashua Chamber initiative a number of years ago. This has been sent to the House Ways & Means Committee, and a hearing is already scheduled for March 30, 2010.
  
  
• The Senate passed SB 497, which addresses the LLC tax problem and also overhauls the issue of Reasonable Compensation. The Chamber has been an integral player on SB 497, and Chamber Advocacy Committee Chair David Heath was a member of the working group established by the Senate Finance Committee to work on the financial issues involved in the bill. The Chamber was also a big participant in hearings and work sessions concerning HB 1607, which was the House’s vehicle for dealing with the reasonable compensation debacle. The Chamber opposed HB 1607 as it was introduced, but through lots of hard work the final version of the bill became less unpalatable. At this midway point, however, it is clear to us that SB 497 is still the far better of the two solutions that are now being considered by the legislature.
  
  
• Another bill supported by the Chamber and passed by the Senate was SB 483, which fixes the problem of “like-kind exchanges.” We are one of the few states (if not the only state) that treats these exchanges as taxable in a manner differently than the IRS does. By bringing New Hampshire into line with other states, we get New Hampshire businesses onto a level playing field.
  
  
• The Chamber also was an active participant in the discussions leading up to the introduction of SB 501, which creates a so called “work-share” program. We have been cautiously supportive of this bill, which would allow companies and workers to agree to reduced hours as an alternative to layoffs. We appreciate the efforts of the Governor to reach out to the Chamber and other business organizations in the development of this bill.
  
  
• One important bill that the Chamber opposed fortunately did not pass. The House sent HB 1242 to study. HB 1242 would have allowed municipalities to use government funds to compete with private broadband providers. We opposed this bill because we can see no reason why the government should go into business in an area where private businesses already are providing these services.
  
  
• Finally, the Senate passed SB 492, another bill that we supported in order to protect New Hampshire businesses against potential tax increases and competitive disadvantages. This keeps in place, for at least two more years, the existing local property tax exemption for telecom poles. If the exemption is repealed, local governments will have the ability for the first time ever to subject telecommunications poles and wires to a property tax, and the cost of those taxes presumably will end up being passed on to the customers. Over the past decade, the legislature has looked at this issue several times and decided that the exemption should remain in place. If it was a good idea then, it certainly is a good idea now, when the economic climate is so much worse.

Senate Passes Gaming Bill

Late on Wednesday, the Senate passed SB 489 by a 14-10 vote. The bill would allow slots at Rockingham Park and several other locations in the state, including the proposed new resort in Hudson. The bill came out of the Senate with an amendment proposed by Senator Kathy Sgambati and Nashua’s Senator Peggy Gilmour that mandates that the first $50M of general fund money raised from the new gaming law must be used to replace money that was (or may be) cut from the Department of Health and Human Services budget lines. As we have noted previously in The Advocate, that amendment is likely to play a significant role in what happens to this bill in the House.

House Tables Spending Reduction Bill

Another event which took place this week that may well have an impact on the gaming bill was the House vote on Wednesday to table HB 1664, which would have made almost $50M in cuts to the DHHS budget. Tabling of this bill means that the bill almost certainly is dead, since it would require a two-thirds vote of the House to take the bill off the table and vote on it (now that we are past the deadline for the House to vote on all House bills). At the end of the day there are likely to be further proposed amendments to House or Senate bills that will make additional cuts similar to what was in HB 1664. Spending and revenue solutions will be the major issues in the final weeks of this session.

Senate Commerce Committee Listens to RFID Debate

On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on HB 478, a bill which would place severe restrictions on the use of radio frequency identification devices (“RFIDs”) by New Hampshire businesses. The Chamber opposes this bill because, by placing regulations such as labeling requirements on New Hampshire businesses, or on products which are coming into New Hampshire, the State would be making it untenable for New Hampshire businesses to compete in the stream of interstate commerce. We think it would be wise to let any regulation in this area be handled at the national level. While a wide variety of business groups appeared in opposition to the bill (in addition to the Chamber, the bill was opposed by a host of businesses including rental car and credit card companies, retail merchants, banks, grocers, the BIA, and even the New Hampshire Library Association.) Only two people testified for the bill, and both of them were members of the House. Let’s hope that the Senate takes care of this bill in short order.

Senate Passes Watered-Down Version of Hospital Cost Legislation

A few weeks ago, we reported on the introduction of SB 505, which would have set up a state commission to review and approve the rates charged by hospitals. Not surprisingly, that bill met a lot of resistance, and the Senate ultimately determined on Wednesday that the bill should be significantly amended. As the bill comes out of the Senate, it no longer gives the commission the right to approve rates, but rather it allows the commission simply to look at the issue of rates. We understand that Senators Bette Lasky and Peggy Gilmour were instrumental in ensuring that SB 505 emerged from the Senate without the onerous rate-making provisions that would have presented big problems for hospitals. Great work by our local Senators, as always.

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!

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