Both the House and Senate are finishing up on their respective legislation. March 28th is ‘crossover day’ so all hearings and votes must be completed by that date (the House has until April 4 to finish budget bills). Both sides will then start working on bills that have passed the other Chamber. It’s like starting all over again but with new faces.
As for the budget bills there have been several public hearings on the budget, with two more coming up up on Monday, March 18th:
- Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center, 111 South Street Claremont.5:00 p.m. Public hearing on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015 and HB 2-FN-A-LOCAL, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
- Rochester Community Center, 150 Wakefield Street, Rochester.5:00 p.m. Public hearing on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015 and HB 2-FN-A-LOCAL, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
If you live in either of these communities it is a good time to attend and express your support or concerns with the proposed budget. The House is working from the Governor’s budget and they will be making changes as they move through the process. NEW HAMPSHIRE FISCAL POLICY INSTITUTE has written up a complete analysis of the Governor’s budget proposal, which I found to be very helpful in understanding the proposed budget. To read this full report click here.
Below is a summary of the status of bills being monitored by AFT-NH.
If you have any questions or concerns please email me at lhainey@aft-nh.org
In Solidarity,
Laura Hainey
AFT-NH President
HOUSE BILLS THAT ARE MOVING OVER TO THE SENATE
HB 178: relative to public employer collective bargaining agreements. This bill was amended and replaced with the following:
This bill requires the PELRB (Public Employee Labor Relations Board) to:
- Post online training for collective bargaining.
- Maintain a record how political subdivisions vote on collective bargaining agreements and provide the legislature with an annual report.
AFT-NH supports this amended bill and hopes that the Senate will pass it as well.
HB 342: relative to part-time employment of retired members of the retirement system.
This bill has been amended in its entirety into a reporting requirement,
- It will provide valuable information regarding NHRS retirees. Employers will report the number of hours worked and the compensation earned to the NHRS on a quarterly basis, so NHRS can collect and maintain data that is unavailable now.
- The bill does not take effect until 120 days after passage to allow time to prepare, and includes a sunset provision in 2018, which allows time for sufficient data to be developed.
- The New Hampshire Retirement Security Coalition (NHRSC) hired, Thomas Lowman from Bolton Partners and he provided us his actuarial opinion stating that the practice of replacing full time position with part time positions is setting the state up for greater costs down the road. He included numerous reasons why employers who either hire more part-time positions than full-time, or encourage full-time employees to retire and then hire them back part-time, are negatively impacting the overall state retirement system and the Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liability. To read the full letter click here.
AFT-NH supports this amended bill and hopes that the Senate will pass it as well.
HB 142 as amended: As I read this bill, any teacher evaluation and support system will be developed with teacher involvement and must be adopted by both the local school board and the teachers. The State teacher evaluation model may serve as a guide and reference only, meaning that it is not mandated that you adopt this State model at the local level. To protect current negotiated provisions in contracts, language was added to the bill, reading “Nothing in this paragraph shall supersede collective bargaining rights under RSA 273-A.” This bill has come a long way from when it was introduced, and AFT-NH will continue to monitor this as it works its way through the Senate.
HB 370: would repeal the education tax credits. Keep in mind that two bills passed last year diverted scarce resources to private and religious schools as well as home schoolers. In fact, these laws do not even contain any accountability provisions to ensure the money is put to good use!
AFT-NH also believes that it is unconstitutional to divert state money to religious schools. Our Constitution is clear—state money will not be used to fund religious instruction (“no person shall ever be compelled to pay towards the support of the schools of any sect or denomination.”– Article 6, NH Constitution). AFT-NH support the passage of this bill and hopes the Senate will pass it as well.
HB 187: relative to deliberative sessions in towns that have adopted official ballot voting. This bill was submitted by retired AFT-NH member Marjorie Porter. This bill provides that the dollar amount agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement between a public employer and an employee organization shall not be modified by the legislative body of the public employer and that amount is what the voters should vote on.
AFT-NH is in support of this bill; we believe that what is negotiated in good faith should go before the voters for a vote and not be sidelined by a few. We hope that the Senate will pass it as well.
SENATE BILLS NOW MOVING OVER TO THE HOUSE
SB 132: relative to part-time employment in the retirement system and establishing a committee to study police special details.
- This bill was amended by the Senate Executive Departments and Administration Committee to establish a committee to study police special details and will move to the full Senate with the recommendation of passage.
- The committee is tasked with studying the use and efficacy of police special details, and alternatives which may be available to towns, cities, and the state.
AFT-NH does not support forming another committee to study the New Hampshire retirement system or parts of it.
SB 82: This bill establishes a commission for the purpose of identifying strategies for developing and implementing a competency-based public education. AFT-NH is staying neutral on this bill. We understand that moving to a competency-based system will take much time and consideration when developing this system. AFT-NH hopes that the final report will include recommendations for adequate time and staff development for the educators charged with implementing this new system.
If you are currently moving forward in implementing a competency-based system and you have concerns, suggestions and recommendations please send them to LHainey@aft-nh.org. This way we can makes sure they are passed along.
DEFEATED BILLS
HB 609: relative to possession of a firearm on school property. AFT-NH was in opposition to this bill, as it created far too many unanswered questions. Where and how are these guns to be stored? Who would have access to the guns? Would it really prevent a shooting at a school or increase the risk of one? Would there be any training for those who have guns at the schools? What about the liability if something goes wrong? This bill was defeated in the house. AFT-NH thanks all who supported us on this.
HB 620: relative to the adjustment of member and employer contribution rates in the retirement system.
- This bill provides that contribution rates for members in the retirement system and employers shall be calculated by assigning one half of the biennial change to the liabilities of the system to each.
- The full House voted to defeat this bill, and AFT-NH supports this action.
HB 322: This bill would have required proficiency on the statewide assessment for advancement to grades 4 and 8. AFT-NH was in opposition to this bill. Since the implementation of No Child Left Behind, we’ve seen a growing fixation on high-stakes testing as a central piece of the effort to improve schools. Unfortunately, the result has been exactly the opposite. The low-level, high-stakes tests that now hang over our teachers and students—and their extreme misuse as a result of ideologically and politically driven education policy—have seriously damaged our public education system. AFT-NH believes that Learning Is More Than a Test Score.
SB 37: relative to management rights under collective bargaining. This bill would have eliminated your ability to bargain over wages, standards for evaluation, selection, layoff and retention, discipline, assignment and transfer and “other traditionally accepted management rights”. In essence, this would have ended collective bargaining for public employees. This bill was defeated by the Senate; AFT-NH fully supported defeating this bill.
CACR 6 and CARC 7: Relating to education. Both of these proposed constitutional amendments concerned funding public education and left full discretion in the hands of the elected representatives at the State House. These proposals are almost carbon-copies of CACR 12 from 2012, which was defeated. Keep in mind we have come a long way since the Claremont Decision. We cherish public education in NH, but we also know that in a difficult budgetary environment, one of the most tempting areas to make spending cuts is in State support of education, thereby downshifting costs onto localities. AFT-NH supported the defeat of these constitutional amendments, which happened this past Wednesday in the House.
And of course HB 323 the Right to Work for less bill. AFT-NH was in opposition to this bill and it was defeated once again!
BILLS THAT HAVE BEEN RETAINED BY THE SENATE OR HOUSE
These bills will be worked on by a committee and there will need to be a vote on the first day of the 2014 session
HB 494: This permits other school personnel to administer a glucagon injection to a pupil. AFT-NH stands with our fellow organization New Hampshire School Nurses Association in opposition to this bill.
HB 341: relative to the cost of fiscal analysis of legislation relating to the retirement system.
- This bill requires that whenever any proposed legislation needs a fiscal analysis of its impact on the NHRS, the administrative and professional cost of that fiscal analysis shall not be paid from Retirement System assets or charged as an expense of administration.
- In the last two sessions it has cost the New Hampshire Retirement System over $100,000 to investigate the costs associated with proposed legislation. This is money coming out of our system that could fund close to three pensions.
- If a legislator puts in a bill then the funds to cost this should come out of their budget not ours.
AFT-NH supports passage of this bill.
HB 627: requiring unused vacation and sick leave to be converted to service time for purposes of calculating retirement system benefits.
- This bill provides that at retirement the accrued but unused sick and vacation time of a retirement system member shall be converted to hours and applied as additional creditable service.
AFT-NH supports defeat of this bill.
HB 435: relative to funding for chartered public school pupils. AFT-NH opposes this bill because it diverts scarce funding from our public schools just like the education tax credits initiated last year. If charter schools truly want to be considered public then they must:
- Accept all children that walk through their doors,
- The entire teaching staff should be certified,
- They would take on all the responsibility of educating special education students and not rely on the local school system to offer services,
- They would take on the responsibility of transporting the students to school.
- In short they would have to follow all the laws and rules that current public schools follow.
BILLS THAT STILL NEED ACTION IN THE FULL HOUSE OR SENATE
HB 124: relative to the determination of gainful occupation for a group II member receiving an accidental disability retirement allowance from the retirement system.
- This bill reinserts a provision which removes the application of the gainful occupation reductions to retirement allowances of group II accidental disability beneficiaries who have years of service plus years of accidental disability retirement which total at least 20 and who have attained the age of 45.
- The House Executive Departments and Administration Committee has no recommendation for this bill. AFT-NH -NH supports the recommendation of passage.
HB 364: relative to notice required concerning employment of a retired member of the New Hampshire retirement system of the limitations on part-time employment.
- This bill was amended its in entirety.
- This bill requires New Hampshire Retirement System employers to notify existing and prospective part-time employees, who are retired members in the retirement system, of the annual limitations on hours for part-time employment. The bill also requires the Retirement System to provide similar notice to all retired members.
- An employer shall provide written notice of the hourly limitations on part-time employment and the potential effect that exceeding such hourly limitations could have on the retired member’s retirement benefits.
- The Retirement System shall annually provide written notice to all retired members of the retirement system of the hourly limitations on part-time employment and the potential effect that exceeding such hourly limitations could have on the retired member’s retirement benefits.
- AFT-NH supports the recommendation of passage from the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee.
HB 455: establishing a committee to study the use of a cash balance retirement plan for new state employees.
- This bill establishes a committee to study the use of a cash balance retirement plan for new state employees and other groups electing to participate.
- AFT-NH supports the recommendation of the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee of defeating this bill.
HB 381: relative to citizen complaints against a police officer. The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee made the recommendation of defeating this bill. AFT-NH is in support of this recommendation and request that legislators support this recommendation when it comes before them. Keep in mind that there is already a process in place for complaints, and this bill would just provide a tool to those who want retribution against police officers who have faithfully performed their duties.
AFT-NH is also supporting the efforts of the New Hampshire Child Alliance Network on HB 260. This bill authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to provide voluntary services to a child who would otherwise be found to be a child in need of services under RSA 169-D. This bill passed the House Children and Family Law Committee 19-0 and passed the full House on March 6. The bill is now before the House Finance Committee, where they will discuss the cost of the bill. Governor Hassan did put in her budget $7.5 M in total funds for CHINS over the next two years. For more background information on this click here.
UPCOMING HEARINGS FOR NEXT WEEK
Note the ones in red are priority bills for AFT-NH
MONDAY, MARCH 18
FINANCE, Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center, 111 South Street Claremont.
5:00 p.m. Public hearing on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015 and HB 2-FN-A-LOCAL, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
Rochester Community Center, 150 Wakefield Street, Rochester.
5:00 p.m. Public hearing on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015 and HB 2-FN-A-LOCAL, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
FINANCE – (DIVISION I), Room 212, LOB
9:30 a.m. Work session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015, HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
FINANCE – (DIVISION II), Room 209, LOB
10:00 a.m. Work session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015, HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
FINANCE – (DIVISION III), Rooms 210-211, LOB
9:30 a.m. Work session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015,
HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures,
HB 260-FN, relative to voluntary services provided to children in need under RSA 169-D (if needed).
1:00 p.m. Work session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015,
HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
TUESDAY, MARCH 19
FINANCE, Rooms 210-211, LOB
10:00 a.m. Executive session on
HB 260-FN, relative to voluntary services provided to children in need under RSA 169-D,
HB 269-L, authorizing a city or town to conduct a special meeting necessitated by changes in adequate education funding,
HB 299-FN, relative to tuition payments for chartered public school pupils,
HB 319-FN, relative to benefits for state employees serving in the armed forces,
HB 344-FN-L, relative to aid to school districts for the cost of special education,
570-FN, relative to school building aid grant eligibility for the White Mountain Regional school district,
FINANCE – (DIVISION I), Room 212, LOB
1:00 p.m. Work session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015,
HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
FINANCE – (DIVISION II), Room 209, LOB
1:00 p.m. Work session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015,
HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
FINANCE – (DIVISION III), Rooms 210-211, LOB
1:00 p.m. Work session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015,
HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
FRIDAY, MARCH 22
HEALTH, EDUCATION AND HUMAN SERVICES, Room 100, SH
1:00 p.m. HB 370-FN, repealing the education tax credit program.
EXECUTIVE SESSION MAY FOLLOW
MONDAY, MARCH 25
FINANCE, Rooms 210-211, LOB
2:30 p.m. Executive session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015,
HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
TUESDAY, MARCH 26
FINANCE, Rooms 210-211, LOB
10:00 a.m. Continued executive session on HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015,
HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures.
MONDAY, APRIL 1
TASK FORCE ON WORK AND FAMILY (RSA 276-B:1), Room 207, LOB
1:15 p.m. Organizational meeting.
