This Monday, the House and Senate’s Finance and Ways and Means committees will meet with local and national economists. The goal: to anticipate how much the state is likely to earn from taxes and other revenues. The estimate the committees come up with will dictate how big the next budget can be.
House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Rockingham) says she has three big concerns about those revenue estimates.
A sluggish economy. A significant challenge, Norelli says, is “the fact that revenues have not rebounded to their pre-recession level yet.”
Revenue cuts. “In last budget cycle, we actually cut general fund revenues. They’ve been reduced by $30 million for just one year.” Norelli says it’s not just the cuts, but the fact that they were made for a future legislative session, without corresponding cuts to spending: “We’re also looking at having to make decisions how to deal with cuts that were made to general fund revenues in the 2012 legislative session, that don’t take affect until the budget that we’re creating now.”
Budget cuts in Washington. “There are already cuts in federal spending to the states from the Federal Control Act. And you add what might happen with the deficit reduction… we’re going to have some pretty big challenges coming to us,” Norelli says.
About 120,000 Granite Staters — almost 10 percent of the state’s population — are members of an LLC, or Limited Liability Corporation. But too many LLCs fail because of internal disputes, says John Cunningham, a Concord lawyer and expert on LLCs. On January 1, a revised LLC act that was signed by Governor Lynch in June goes into effect.
Cunningham was the principal author of the initial LLC law, and chaired the commission that drafted the new act’s revisions. He says the purpose of the new act is two-fold.
First, he says, the “most important purpose is to make the act as user friendly as possible for small New Hampshire businesses.” The other purpose, Cunningham says, “is to make it as flexible as possible so you can tailor your arrangements with your partners to the maximum extent.”
The new law goes into effect for newly formed LLCs in the new year, and is optional for existing LLCs until January of 2014.
It’s been a good year for StateImpact New Hampshire — NHPR hired a new news director and StateImpact reporter in May. As we move into the new year, we’re looking forward to focusing our efforts on a few key issues in the state, including what New Hampshire is and isn’t doing to recruit and train young workers. That’s part of our coverage of the economic headwinds New Hampshire is facing. So stay tuned!
As national cyclist and pedestrian deaths continue to climb, Complete Streets – the movement to make roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists, public transit users and motorists – has an advocate in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Conservative Representative Lenette Peterson of Merrimack, who lists ‘getting handguns back in the state house,’ among her policy priorities, is proposing a bill that would require the state to widen shoulders and bicycle lanes, in compliance with the Complete Streets guidelines offered by Smart Growth America.
Peterson’s expected bill would require that roads have adequate room for cyclists, pedestrians, construction workers and other non-motorists when painting lane lines and constructing new roads. However, Peterson says, “we know that not all streets are going to be able to follow the complete street guidelines.” In those situations, state planners would be exempt from the law. “What this bill would ask,” Peterson says, “ is when it can’t be done, say why.”
The bill won’t require a fiscal note, Peterson says, so it won’t cost the state more money. “I think it’s a bipartisan bill,” she says, “I think it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Peterson is an avid cyclist who was inspired to sponsor the bill by her own frustrations with disappearing bike lanes. But, she says, it’s not just cyclists who would benefit from wider shoulders and bike lanes. Construction workers and police, for example, are often put in danger when roads have inadequate shoulder room.
There are a slew of possible bills coming down the pipes this session having to do with nanobreweries: a brewing category created by lawmakers in 2011. With a $240 nanobrewery license, an enthusiastic homebrewer can to start a small-scale commercial brewery. StateImpact New Hampshire will be keeping tabs on developments in the nanobrewing community throughout the year. Here are some issues you can expect to hear more about:
Raise the amount of beer that can be sold by the glass at a nanobrewery tasting room from 4 ounces to 16 ounces.
In 2011, lawmakers passed a bill allowing brewers who produce fewer than 2,000 barrels annually to obtain a license to sell their beer via barrel, keg, bottle, or in-person at a tasting room for one fifth the cost of a traditional license. But before the bill passed the Senate, a 4 ounce restriction was put on over-the-counter beer sales. This session, Representative Fred Leonard of Rochester (D) is sponsoring a bill to increase that limit to 16 ounces.
Remove restrictions that forbid cross-ownership of on-premise and off-premise establishments.
New Hampshire currently prohibits restaurants and beverage vendors from opening a brewery on premises. This session, beer advocate Kevin Bloom is working with lawmakers to craft a bill which will likely include repealing restrictions like those defined here.
Establish a pilot program for the sale of New Hampshire microbrewery and nanobrewery beers at specific state liquor stores.
Robert Cushing (D) Rockingham is sponsoring this bill along with two other Democratic house members. Cushing says he’s hoping to target out of state customers by making New Hampshire-brewed nano- and micro-brews available at four state liquor stores near state lines on I-93, as a strategy for stimulating local economies. At present, no beer is sold at the state’s liquor stores.
The Business And Industry Association has released its list of public policy priorities for the 2013-2014 legislative session. Expansion of the state’s research and development tax credit is at the top of that list, says spokesperson Adrienne Rupp, who adds “it’s very beneficial particularly to the manufacturing sector.”
The BIA continues its tradition of opposing tax increases and supporting tax credits for businesses. Meanwhile, the BIA is hoping for state investment in initiatives that: Continue Reading →
As the next legislative session approaches, expanded gambling is certain to be a hot topic. At least two bills are certain to surface that would allow for at least one casino in the state, both sponsored by Manchester lawmakers: one sponsored by Republican Representative Steve Vaillancourt, another by long-time expanded gambling proponent, Democratic Senator Lou D’Allesandro.
Vaillancourt’s bill will likely propose “state-run, state-controlled facilities,” which would be leased to private gambling entities through a competitive bidding process. That’s in contrast to D’Allesandro’s bill, which is likely to propose that the state sell licenses to private developers. D’Allesandro says he is working closely with Governor-Elect Maggie Hassan to shape a bill she will support. While Hassan campaigned on the creation of “one well-regulated high-end casino,” D’Allesandro says he is hoping to convince her to support multiple casino licenses. He advocates what he calls the “Delaware model,” with which the state licenses several private racetracks and casinos.
In recent years, the Senate has voted in favor of expanded gambling. Meanwhile, the 400-member House has consistently rejected it — with both Republican and Democratic majorities. Opposition in the House will likely be the biggest challenge for casino advocates this session. Continue Reading →
At midnight on New Years Eve, the 34-person staff of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center will lose their jobs. Some, but not all of the employees can then be hired back by a newly formed private non-profit organization, which begins operating the recently expanded planetarium on January 1st.
Patrick Clark of Burstpoint Networks speaks with Jamie Coughlin before the event.
From 11:15 to noon today, three leaders of innovation and business in New Hampshire will be discussing employee and business recruitment in the state. We’ll be liveblogging the event, as part of our ongoing coverage of New Hampshire’s simultaneously shrinking workforce and growing tech sector.
The speakers are: Patrick Clark of Burstpoint Networks, a Massachusetts tech company that recently expanded to Merrimack, NH; Jamie Coughlin, CEO of abi Innovation Hub in Manchester; and Marie Josee Vaillant of Kheops International, a wholesale gift company in Colebrook. Continue Reading →
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