Representative Michael Yakubovich has dropped out of the state Senate race, due to medical problems that need his full attention. Please pray for him and his family in this stressful time.
Michael has been replaced as a candidate for the state senate by my friend Keith Murphy, a former representative who now lives in Manchester Ward 1, in the district. I support Keith’s election and am glad to talk with any of you about him.
My committee met this week to hear a presentation from the NH Retirement System on how they’re implementing SB 363, which allows Group II employees (police, fire, and corrections) to buy additional service credit if they are among those not vested in 2011 when the retirement system changed the minimum retirement date. This would let them retire at a younger age and/or receive a higher pension. The bill requires them to pay the full cost, which turned out to be higher than many of them had anticipated. Still, 137 people (of 1824 eligible) have applied for the buyback since the change went into law on August 6.
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The committee also voted on some of the bills we held for interim study. HB 1429, requiring massage establishments to be licensed (in addition to the actual therapists) was the most contentious: it was recommended for further legislation 8-5, and one member has already submitted a bill to license them. The opposition, including me, believes that this is a local problem, and strongly prefers that towns have the authority to enforce their health and safety ordinances.
My HB 1191, allowing unlicensed owners to do plumbing, electrical, and gas work in duplexes as well as single-family homes, was recommended to not have further legislation because the bill as written is too simplistic, and resetting the exemptions is too complex to handle accurately in a short time period. So we recommended no further legislation, 11-2. HB 1061, on the midwifery board, was unanimously recommended for legislation to restructure the board.
HB 1395, which required the legislature to affirmatively approve all administrative rules (instead of objecting to some of them, and letting the rest go into effect) was recommended for no further legislation. I had thought to use this bill to consider some changes to JLCAR, the joint legislative committee on administrative rules, but decided to try some of them out before making a law change. (unless something surprising happens, I expect to be chair of JLCAR next session, and will be able to try out some changes.)
I’ve been appointed to two study committees this fall: one looking into the operation of the OPLC (office of professional licensure and certification), and the other into updating the state building code. The OPLC study is particularly looking into licensing fees and cost allocations since a licensing fee is intended to simply cover the cost of regulating the profession. If it is too high, it becomes an unfair tax; if too low, the licensing operation is subsidized by other taxpayers. The rule of thumb is that expected fees should total 100-125% of the projected costs, with an allowance for estimating errors and unanticipated costs. The various boards within the OPLC range from 32% to 378% of costs, based on the current allocation formula for shared costs: this is not acceptable and needs to be fixed. Of course, we will also be looking at the allocation formula!
The committee on building code updates hasn’t met yet. Another committee, created by my HB 1398, is studying criminal record checks in education, with the hope of eliminating the need for redundant reports.
Representative Carol McGuire
carol@mcguire4house.com
