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Week Nineteen - May 29, 2009
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’s major headlines come from the Senate Finance
Committee, which wrapped up its review of the state budget yesterday.
In a session which stretched until 1:30 a.m. on Thursday night,
the committee took several actions which are of great significance
for New Hampshire businesses.
Suspension
of BET Tax Credit
The most alarming action that the Finance Committee took was
a 4-3 vote to amend HB 2 (the budget bill) so as to suspend for
two years the current Business Enterprise Tax (BET) credit against
the Business Profits Tax (BPT). This is projected to raise about
$80 million in revenues for the State over the course of the next
two years.
Although the amendment does allow credits accrued in the next
two years to be carried forward for a 10-year period, the suspension
of the BET credit really amounts to nothing more than the State
forcibly borrowing money from businesses.
Can anyone really believe that this makes sense in an economy
where businesses are already on the edge? And can anyone really
believe that, when the 2-year period is at an end, the credit
will not simply be repealed or “suspended” for an
additional period of time?
We see the rejection of this amendment as a number one priority
item. We will be joining with a number of other business groups
on Monday for a press conference at the Legislative Office Building
to speak in opposition to this amendment. The full Senate is expected
to vote on this amendment on Wednesday and we hope the full Senate
sees the light.
If you want to express your concerns about this move, you can
contact any of our local senators at the following email addresses:
Capital
Gains Tax Nixed
On the good news side, the same Finance Committee, with no discussion,
voted to remove the capital gains tax which had been proposed
in the House version of the budget. Assuming that that is how
the full Senate votes on Wednesday, that issue is likely to come
back again as an important point of contention between the House
and the Senate when the Committee of Conference on the budget
begins its work early in June.
Gaming Amendment
Approved
Among the other items in the Committee’s budget package:
an increase in the tobacco tax (by 45 cents, to $1.78/pack); an
increase in the rooms and meals tax (from 8 percent to 8.75 percent);
and the elimination of a gas tax increase that was passed by the
House.
Probably the most significant thing that the Committee did, however,
was to approve an amendment to allow video slot machines in the
North Country and at pari-mutuel locations. Ironically, although
this was the largest revenue-producing measure which was taken
up by the Finance Committee, there was literally no debate before
the vote was taken.
It is important to recognize the context in which all of this
is happening. The subcommittee which was reviewing the Department
of Health & Human Services (DHHS) component of the budget
was initially forced to recommend over $30 million in cuts to
significant social service programs, such as the Traumatic Brain
Injury Waiting List. Thus, the Senators on that subcommittee had
a hard time swallowing some of the other items that the committee
approved but which were not perceived as being as important to
the protection of health and safety. As things shook out on Thursday
morning, the revenues from gaming became closely tied in with
the funding needs of DHHS.
At the end of the day, this budget is going to come down to the
issue of revenues. As it is, it is not entirely clear that the
array of revenue sources which the Senate has been able to cobble
together will be enough to cover the $400 million hole which the
Senate perceives to exist. If gaming does not fly on the Senate
floor, it will leave a gap of almost $200 million in the Senate’s
assumptions concerning the amount of revenue that will be available
to fund this budget. And if that happens, we will be in for a
very interesting few weeks approaching the end of the fiscal year
on June 30th.
Many of you completed a special online survey that our Chamber
sent out this past week. That survey asked your opinions on whether
or not the Chamber should publicly get involved in the gaming
issue. Our Board of Directors will be taking those survey results
into account over the next week, and determining whether or not
it makes good sense for us to publicly weigh in on the question
of legalized gaming in New Hampshire. Stay tuned for more information
on this, over the next two weeks.
Senate
Judiciary Committee Recommends Re-Referral Of Human Rights Commission
Complaint Bill
On Thursday afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-0
to re-refer HB 686, a bill opposed by the Chamber, which would
have made a change in the existing Human Rights Commission laws,
and allowed only complainants to remove a case to the Superior
Court (currently, both parties have that ability). At first, it
looked like this bill might have some legs in the committee. But
eventually, the committee members began expressing concerns about
the possible implications of such a bill, and particularly whether
the bill would pass constitutional muster. Thus, the committee
decided that the bill requires further study. They will be looking
primarily at whether the bill would deprive employers of the constitutional
right to a jury, or if it would treat employers differently in
some fundamental way which might also run afoul of the Constitution.
Given the unanimous vote of the committee, and the fact that the
Senate will be taking up a number of items on Wednesday (not the
least of which is the state budget), we do not expect that the
Senate will be inclined to go against the committee’s recommendation.
Acknowledgements
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
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