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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dave Juvet
Business and Industry Association
Office: 603.224.5388 x115
Mobile: 603.731.7756
djuvet@nhbia.org

BIA releases 2010 public policy priorities

Statewide chamber of commerce targets state’s business climate, high healthcare and energy costs

CONCORD, N.H. – Nov. 16, 2009 – The state’s business climate, and high healthcare and energy costs top the BIA’s public policy concerns for 2010. The organization released eight key issues on which it will focus much of its work in 2010 – issues that are important to the New Hampshire business community in order to arrest what many business leaders view as an eroding competitive business advantage.

“Each year, BIA develops public policy priorities based on what we hear from our small, mid-size and larger business members, as well as local and regional chamber of commerce members from across the state, about the top business challenges they’re facing,” said Jim Roche, BIA president. “This year we will again be working on several issues the organization has addressed in the past that have once more topped the list of business concerns, as well as tackle some new issues that have emerged.”

In 2010 the BIA will address the following public policy priorities and pursue related action steps:

FISCAL POLICY:

Priority: The BIA believes fiscally conservative state budgets with a business-friendly tax structure are an important part of the New Hampshire Advantage. 
Action steps include:

• Oppose an income or sales tax.
• Oppose any increase in the BET or BPT.
• Support efforts to pass a constitutional amendment to allow the state to target education aid.
• Encourage efforts to bring state employee retirement costs to a sustainable level.

Priority: The BIA supports business tax incentives that foster economic growth.  Action steps include:

• Oppose a reduction in, repeal of, or suspension of the BET credit against the BPT.
• Oppose any efforts to reduce or repeal research and development tax credits.
• Support efforts to improve net operating loss carry-forward provisions.
• Ensure that efforts to define “reasonable compensation” as a deduction against the Business Profits Tax will not adversely affect New Hampshire’s business climate.
• Support continued state investment in community development tax credits.

HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH CARE AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT:

Priority: The BIA supports efforts to reduce total health care costs for businesses and the state, including payment reform. Action steps include:

• Oppose new or expanded health insurance benefit mandates.
• Support adequate Medicaid reimbursements to health care providers in order to reduce “cost-shifting” to the business community.
• Review and evaluate cost-effective ways to provide health care to the uninsured and underinsured in order to reduce “cost-shifting” to the business community from uncompensated care.
• Support efforts to develop and implement electronic medical records and electronic prescriptions.
• Support efforts that enhance health care consumer awareness through increased transparency of health care quality and cost information.
• Support efforts to find efficiencies in the delivery of Medicaid services.
• Support efforts to promote better health in the workplace.
• Support federal health care reform that lowers costs, improves health care access and results in better healthcare outcomes. Guiding principles are:
  • Employers, government and individuals have a shared interest in public health and individual wellness.
  • The business community should not be responsible for any new costs associated with health care reform.
  • To reduce cost-shifting to the private sector, reform should address uncompensated health care and underfunding of government health programs.
  • Health care reform should not force insurance companies out of business.

Priority: The BIA will support efforts to develop New Hampshire’s future workforce. Action steps include:

• Support initiatives to improve job readiness skills for a multi-generational workforce; recruit and train younger workers; recognize the abilities and talents of legal immigrants and refugees; and to prepare the labor force for 21st Century occupations.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

Priority: The BIA will monitor the availability and affordability of housing for working people. Action steps include:

• Encourage BIA members and chamber partners to become more engaged in workforce housing issues at the local level.
• Continue to increase awareness of the issue through workshops, forums and publicity.
  Support the development of educational programs aimed at dispelling workforce housing myths.
• Oppose any efforts to roll back or repeal core principals of SB 342 (2008 Workforce Housing legislation).

Priority: The BIA will support infrastructure development. Action steps include:

• Transportation - Advocate for investment in public transportation systems, including rail and air travel, as well as New Hampshire’s road and bridge network.
  Support efforts to increase federal transportation aid to the state.
• Water/Sewer - Educate policy leaders and the public about water and wastewater treatment systems that are at the end of their design life and/or exceeding capacity.
• Communication/Broadband - Encourage improvements to telecommunications
  systems in the state.

ENERGY AND REGULATED UTILITIES:

Priority: The BIA will continue to work toward mitigating the rising cost of energy. Action steps include:

• Support initiatives and policies that leverage regional strengths, including the development of renewable energy resources.
• Lead and support efforts to educate businesses, elected officials, and participate in the education of consumers, about electricity supply, distribution, thermal energy savings potential, energy efficiency and conservation.
• Help members explore competitive supply options, renewable technologies, distributed energy resources and purchaser aggregation.
• Support the creation of a long term strategic economic plan for the state of New Hampshire, with an emphasis on the future of energy generation, transmission, efficiency, conservation and load management.
• Support proportional disbursements, based on energy usage, from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Fund, Renewable Energy Fund, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Core Energy Efficiency Programs and other funds for businesses undertaking energy efficiency and conservation projects, and oppose diverting these funds for purposes unrelated to energy efficiency and the promotion of alternative energy sources.

ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS:

Priority: The BIA will continue to support environmental policies, legislation and administrative rules that balance economic development with the long term viability of the state’s natural resources. Action steps include:

• Support Department of Environmental Services’ initiatives to streamline and expedite the permitting process.
• Advocate for increased dialogue, equitable disbursement, transparency and fairness in state agencies’ environmental fee structures.
• Foster discussions on how the Department of Environmental Services is funded, focusing on the appropriate allocation of the state’s fees and taxes. 
• Advocate for greater incentives for private sector environmental stewardship.
  Support balanced state and federal policies regarding wetlands protection and wastewater discharge.
• Focus on the state’s role in balancing the availability and use of water resources.

BIA develops its proactive agenda through an annual, four-step policy development process. First, in partnership with local and regional chambers of commerce, as well as other trade associations, the BIA held 14 roundtable discussions throughout the state in June asking business leaders to list their top business challenges for the upcoming year. Next, BIA members had the opportunity to refine and further prioritize key concerns via an online survey conducted in July. In August, BIA’s five policy committees, comprised of volunteers from member companies of all sizes, vetted the preliminary list and recommended specific policy priorities to the organization’s board of directors. And in the fourth and final step of the process, the board selected and approved the final list of top public policy issues presented above.

Of particular concern, and directly related to 2010 fiscal policy priorities, are lingering questions over the extension of the interest and dividends tax to distributions from limited liability companies and partnerships. This closing of a so-called “tax loophole” was included in the recently passed state budget with no public hearings.  The BIA was one of the only, and certainly the most vocal, business groups to question its appropriateness and efficacy.  Working with a team of member CPAs and tax attorneys, along with the NH Society of Certified Public Accountants, BIA has submitted comments on the proposed rules in an attempt to resolve myriad questions.  However, if concerns over the application of this new tax cannot be resolved, the association will likely support a repeal of the measure when the legislature reconvenes in January.         

“Right now, companies of all sizes—small, mid-size and large—are watching every dollar to withstand the worst recession since World War II,” said Roche. “Business taxes, new regulations, and healthcare and energy costs, are just a few of the many pressure points that impact a business’ ability to meet payroll and maintain employment for hundreds of thousands of New Hampshire residents. Our role, as the state’s leading business advocate for companies of all sizes—small, mid-size and large—is to bring these issues and concerns to light. State policymakers play an important role in maintaining the state’s economic security. By paying attention to factors that affect a company’s competitiveness relative to other states and countries, and passing favorable business climate policies, legislators can make sure New Hampshire remains an attractive place in which to do business, protect the jobs we already have here, and help grow new jobs in the future.”