NHAC Legislative Committee
Meeting/Conference Call
Rockingham County Registry of Deeds
10 Route 125, Brentwood NH
February 13, 2015
Cathy Stacey called the meeting to order at 1:00 PM and took roll call of participants present by phone: Ellen Ann Robinson, Jessie Levine, Kathi Guay, Ted Purdy, Daniel Ward, Steve Woods, Lori Shibinette, Tom Tombarello, Rockingham County Commissioner
Cathy asked for a poll of participants whose attendance in person was not “reasonably practical” pursuant to RSA 91-A:2 III (a) (thereby necessitating conference call). Those who indicated they could not practically make the meeting were: Ellen Ann Robinson, Jessie Levine, Kathi Guay, Ted Purdy, Steve Woods, Lori Shibinette, Tom Tombarello
The following bills were discussed:
House & Senate Committee meetings on February 17:
House Commerce Committee
HB596 1:15pm LOB302
Insurance plans (charging participants for tax under ACA) – WATCH
House Criminal Justice & Public Safety
HB568 10:30am LOB204
Require supervising law enforcement officer to arrest a law enforcement officer when the supervisor knows the officer has committed a criminal offense. – WATCH
HB669 11:00am LOB204
Law enforcement agencies to report on receipt of certain equipment and grants and deployment of tactical teams - WATCH
House Executive Dept. & Admin.
HB488 11:00am LOB306
Abusive Work Environment and health & safety of public employees –WATCH
House Finance Committee LOB210-211
12:45pm Department of Health & Human Services Budget
Ellen Ann will be attending, and Cathy will also try.
House Judiciary
Executive Session 10am LOB 208
HB151 – committee to study end of life decisions – TO BE EXEC ON 2/17
House Municipal & County
Executive Session 10:30am LOB301
HB416 Compensation for Coos County delegation
Senate Hearings on Feb. 17:
Commerce
SB107 2:20pm SH100
Prohibiting collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join (essentially a right-to-work bill)
Judiciary
SB197 10:00am SH100
Relative to mandatory minimum sentences
Health & Human Services
SB112 1:40pm LOB101
Requiring health insurance policies to cover telemedicine services
Committee Meetings on February 19, 2015
House Executive Depts & Administration
CACR10 10:00am LOB306
4 year term for governor
Labor, Industrial & Rehabilitative Services
HB600 10:00am LOB206 HR – WATCH
Paid Sick Leave (the question is part time employees)
1 hour every 30 hours worked not to exceed 40 hours/year
Can begin using after 6 months employed
Some discussion that we may already meet minimum requirements that would satisfy bill.
HB658 10:45am LOB206
Prohibit collective bargaining agreements that require employees to join
House Judiciary
HB447 10:00am LOB208
Relative to quorums for meetings under right to know (to make it easier to justify telephonic meeting)
Jessie asked where NHMA stood on this bill. Unknown at this time.
HB613 10:45am LOB208
Relative to governmental records exempted under the right to know law – WATCH
DOC Affiliate is following it.
HB633 11:30am LOB208
Establishing right to know grievance commission and relative to notices of meetings under right to know (72 hours versus 24 hours)
Cathy will attempt to attend the hearing. Feeling that 72 hour notice is impractical and cumbersome.
Cathy reported on consent calendar (Feb. 19):
Senate
SB 46 (radio interoperability): ought to pass
SB 74 (study to reduce cost of County govt): OTP (first report 11/15 with final report 2016)
SB 156 (discrimination against domestic violence employees): OTP
SB 140 (on-line harassment by prisoners): re-referred to Judiciary (DOC following)
House
HB 364 (renewal fees for professional licensing): OTP
HB 188 (sharing of Medicaid information): inexpedient to legislation
HB 670 : ITL
HB 687 (eligibility for Medicaid): ITL
HB 686 (single payer system): ITL
HB 401 (cloud computing, following by deeds): ITL
HB 682 (Group II positions for admin staff): ITL
HB 125 (county audits and competitive bidding): ITL
HB 189 (Rockingham County); ITL (most likely will come off consent calendar because of split report out of committee)
HB 407 (military equipment): ITL
HB 151 (end of life) exec by Judiciary on Feb. 17: nursing homes following
Jessie asked if there had been an update on HB277 regarding grant committee requirement (she testified against it when it was at M&CG committee). It has not yet been reported out of committee.
Cathy reported that CACR 12 was ITL’d yesterday.
Steve Woods reported that DHHS announced that Phase II would be put off a full year, until July1, 2016. This is great news and Woods credited all of the work from all kinds of people on this.
Call concluded at 1:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessie W. Levine
Sullivan County Manager
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