New Hampshire's Election Update

The NAIFA-New Hampshire Government Relations Committee partners with J. Grimbilas Strategic Solutions, LLC. to lobby on the issues important to our industry, our products and services, and our clients. J. Grimbilas Strategic Solutions, LLC. has been front line advocates to advance NAIFA-New Hampshire's legislative and regulatory priorities for many years. They've provided this week's update on recent committee meetings, bills they are following, and legislative issues they've identified as being of interest to NAIFA. 

Election Recap: New Hampshire voters chose to remain a Republican-controlled state government for the next two years. On Friday, we learned that, following Senate caucuses, the Senate Republicans selected Senator Sharon Carson and Senator Regina Birdsell as the next Senate President and Senate Majority Leader, respectively. The Senate Democrats selected Senator Rebecca Perkins Kwoka as the Minority Leader and Senator Cindy Rosenwald as Deputy Democratic Leader. 

Below are the current composition of the various elected offices in NH. The House numbers are included below, but may change due to recounts, which if held, would be done over the next couple of weeks. 

Governor of NH - Republican Kelly Ayotte
Executive Council - 4-1 Republican majority
State Senate - 16-8 Republican majority
House of Representatives - 222-178 Republican majority

2024 Interim Study Bill reports.  House Committee reports for bills sent to Interim Study were included in Friday’s calendar.  The reports outline whether the House Committee believed the bill “should or should not” be recommended for future legislation.   As a quick reminder, the reports are not binding on the next Legislature and any issue can be brought forward as a new bill in 2025.  They provide some insight on some of the bills we may see next session. I think it is fair to expect continue debate surrounding the repeal of the Interest and Dividends Tax in the next session.

• HB 15-FN, relative to the rate of the business enterprise tax. WITHOUT RECOMMENDATION. Rep. John Janigian for Ways and Means. The committee was unable to reach a consensus on whether to recommend further legislation or not. Vote 10-10.
• HB 100-FN-A, to repeal the interest and dividends tax. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FUTURE LEGIS LATION. Rep. Fred Doucette for Ways and Means. The committee was unanimous in no need for further legislation as this has been addressed in another legislative action. Vote 20-0.
• HB 225-FN, relative to prohibiting the use of currency that could be detrimental to privacy rights. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FUTURE LEGISLATION. Rep. Keith Ammon for Commerce and Consumer Affairs. This bill aimed to prohibit currencies, including Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), that could threaten privacy rights. The committee found the bill’s language too vague for passage and recommends better definitions in any future legislation. Vote 16-0.
• HB 1232, prohibiting state or local governments from using central bank digital currency. NOT RECOM MENDED FOR FUTURE LEGISLATION. Rep. Keith Ammon for Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Like HB 225, this bill would have prohibited Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), explicitly prohibiting the state treasurer, state agencies, and political subdivisions from accepting them. The bill needs better definitions to move forward. A similarly focused bill (NC HB 690/SL 2024-48) recently passed the North Carolina legislature in a bipartisan override of their governor’s veto. Vote 16-0.
• HB 1422-FN-A-LOCAL, relative to the rates of the business profits tax, business enterprise tax, communications service tax, and meals and rooms tax. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FUTURE LEGISLATION. Rep. Fred Doucette for Ways and Means. The committee was unanimous in its opinion that this bill should be broken down into its individual components and recommends no further legislative action on this particular bill. Vote 20-0.
• HB 1492-FN, relative to the rate and exemptions of the interest and dividends tax. WITHOUT RECOM MENDATION. Rep. John Janigian for Ways and Means. The committee was unable to reach a consensus on whether to recommend further legislation or not. Vote 10-10.
• HB.1507, relative to innovative financial services. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FUTURE LEGISLATION. Rep. Susan Porcelli for Commerce and Consumer Affairs. This bill attempted to grant the Banking Department authority to allow businesses to trial new products, services, and business models while bypassing laws and rules unsuited for their innovative idea and would have established the financial services regulatory sandbox fund. Several issues remain in question regarding this bill. Significant staff is required to set up and monitor the sandbox. Generally, financial services sectors are hesitant to use the sandbox concept since proprietary products would become public due to oversight requirements. Another issue with the bill as drafted related to consumer harm which needs to be explicitly detailed. The bill in the current form is not recommended for future legislation. Vote 16-0.
• HB 1663-FN, relative to the confidentiality of medical records and patient information. RECOMMENDED FOR FUTURE LEGISLATION. Rep. Erica Layon for Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs. This bill sought to provide protections and clarity regarding medical record confidentiality through a repeal and replace method. Substantial testimony opposing facets of current law as overly restrictive suggests that there is significant need to assess New Hampshire’s protections of patient privacy in a more rigorous manner, particularly given the expanded public awareness surrounding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA was assumed to be a privacy protection law, when in reality it facilitates easier sharing of patient records. Federal law permits states to be more protective of patient privacy, and therefore this is recommended for future legislation. Vote 11-4.
• HB 1674-FN, relative to establishing the New Hampshire legal tender act and establishing a state bullion depository. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FUTURE LEGISLATION. Rep. Keith Ammon for Commerce and Consumer Affairs. This bill was initially broad in scope and proposed declaring gold and silver as legal tender, setting up a bullion depository within the state treasury, and is suing digital tokens as redeemable receipts for bullion. However, the bill was scaled back to focus solely on making gold and silver legal tender in New Hampshire, removing the depository and digital token sections. Municipalities expressed concerns about being required to handle, store, and trade precious metals if they are made legal tender. Any future efforts may want to start with the scaled-back version (amendment 2024-0373h) and study how other states have implemented the legal tender portion. A list of similar legislation has been adopted in other states and is available on the National Council of State Legislatures website. Vote 16-0.

Legislative session - Important Dates:

• The new Legislature will meet in session for organization day on Wednesday, December 4^th.

• The first day of legislative session in January will be January 8, 2025.

• Newly-elected House members and Senators can start filing bill titles for 2025 now.   The deadline for House members to file is November 22^nd.   The deadline for Senate bill filings has not yet been announced (typically sometime in December).