INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE:  On Wednesday, February 20 the House Labor Committee will hear three bills to increase the minimum wage.  They range from raising the minimum to $10 to one raising the minimum to $15 and another eliminating the tip wage.  Here are the bills:  HB 178, HB 186, HB 731

TOURISM PROMOTION:  Kudos go out to Governor Sununu for his budget proposal to increase spending on tourism promotion by $3 million each year over the next biennium.  His budget now goes to the House Finance Committee. 

ALLOWING THE SALE OF BEER IN REFILLABLE CONTAINERS:  On Wednesday, February 20 the House Commerce Committee will hear HB 405, which would allow on and off-premise licensees maintaining an inventory of at least 200 different beer labels to fill standard refillable containers.  The additional fee the licensee would have to pay would be $240.  Manufacturers that don’t want their product served by refillable containers would be able to inform the Liquor Commission who would in turn inform the licensees. 
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CAPPING THE COMMISSION PAID TO ROOMS AND MEALS TAX LICENSEE : At the request of the sponsor, Representative Michael Cahill of Newmarket, the House agreed to postpone a vote on HB 254.  Rep Cahill wants the chance to explain why a 19-0 vote in the House Ways and Means Committee was wrong.  Our hope is that he will continue to aggravate his fellow colleagues by lecturing them on why they are all wrong and he is right.  HB 254 would cap the amount rooms and meals tax operators could retain for collecting the tax at $100 per month.  Currently, operators are allowed to retain 3% of the taxes due to the state if they remit the amount due by the 15th day of the month following their collection.  A big shout out goes to Eric Roberts (Lui Lui Restaurants), Dicky Desai (Hillbrook Motel in Bedford), and Alex Ray & Rusty McLear who attended the public hearing and made a great case for defeating this bill.  The full House will vote on this on Wednesday, February 27.    

UNUSED VACATION TIME:  The House Labor Committee voted unanimously to retain HB 532, which would require an employer to pay its employees for earned but unused vacation or personal time.  The bill also requires employers to pay terminated employees for vacation time and personal time.  The bill faced stiff opposition in the public hearing from various business groups.  The committee voted this past week to retain the bill which means it will not go forward for a full vote this session and instead the committee will keep it and study over the fall and make a recommendation before the end of 2019.

ALLOWING THE SALE OF BEER IN REFILLABLE CONTAINERS:  On Wednesday, February 20 the House Commerce Committee will hear HB 405, which would allow on and off-premise licensees maintaining an inventory of at least 200 different beer labels to fill standard refillable containers.  The additional fee the licensee would have to pay would be $240.  Manufacturers that don’t want their product served by refillable containers would be able to inform the Liquor Commission who would in turn inform the licensees. 
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CAPPING THE COMMISSION PAID TO ROOMS AND MEALS TAX LICENSEES:  The House Ways & Means Committee has voted 19-0 to recommend that HB 254 be killed.  The bill would cap the amount rooms and meals tax operators could retain for collecting the tax at $100 per month.  Currently, operators are allowed to retain 3% of the taxes due to the state if they remit the amount due by the 15th day of the month following their collection.  A big shout out goes to Eric Roberts (Lui Lui Restaurants), Dicky Desai (Hillbrook Motel in Bedford), and Rusty McLear (Hampshire Hospitality) who attended the public hearing and made a great case for defeating this bill.  The full House will vote on the bill this Thursday, February 14.    

CAPPING THE COMMISSION PAID TO ROOMS AND MEALS TAX LICENSEES:  The House Ways & Means Committee has voted 19-0 to recommend that HB 254 be killed.  The bill would cap the amount rooms and meals tax operators could retain for collecting the tax at $100 per month.  Currently, operators are allowed to retain 3% of the taxes due to the state if they remit the amount due by the 15th day of the month following their collection.  A big shout out goes to Eric Roberts (Lui Lui Restaurants), Dicky Desai (Hillbrook Motel in Bedford), and Rusty McLear (Hampshire Hospitality) who attended the public hearing and made a great case for defeating this bill.  The full House will vote on the bill on February 14.    
 
REDUCING THE COMMISSION PAID TO KENO LICENSEES:  The House Ways & Means Committee has voted 16-3 to recommend that HB 390 be killed.  The bill would reduce the amount a Keno licensee may retain from 8 to 5 percent the amount of the proceeds from Keno games.  The full House will vote on this bill on February 14.    
 
HOUSE KILLS BILL THAT WOULD HAVE REQUIRED DIFFERENTIAL PAY FOR THOSE WHO WORK AT NIGHT:  The House killed HB 255, which would have required employers to pay employees who work between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am $2 more than their regular rate of pay for any hours worked during that timeframe.  NHLRA opposed the bill.