NHLRA's Weblog

Certification of Food Protection Managers

Wednesday, March 30 the House will vote on HB 56, which would require food service establishments to assign at least one full-time employee to be a certified food protection manager.  An exemption would be provided for home food manufacturers and bed and breakfast establishments.  The certified food protection manager would have to be at least 18 years of age, be re-certified at least every 5 years, and assigned to no more than 2 licensed establishments.  Under the bill, food service establishments would have until July 1, 2006 to comply with this requirement. This bill is the product of the NH Safe Food Alliance, which NHLRA has been involved.

Take-out Food and Beverage Tax

On Tuesday, March 22, a subcommittee of the House Environment Committee will discuss HB 659, which will establish a tax of 0.001105 percent tax on the value of all take-out food and beverages sold in this state.  NHLRA opposes this bill.

Tourism Promotion Budget

A subcommittee of the House Finance Committee will begin working on the budget of the Department of Resources and Economic Development on Friday, March 11.  NHLRA will be there to make sure the governor’s proposed funding for tourism promotion is maintained.

Minimum Wage Increase

This Wednesday, March 16, the House Labor Committee will hear HB 665, which would increase the State’s minimum wage for hourly employees from $5.15 to $6.65, and increase the cash wage for tipped employees from $2.38 to $2.66. NHLRA opposes this legislation.

Education Funding

The House Education Committee is considering a proposal by Representative Michael Asselin of Danville to change statewide education funding.  He’s proposing to increase the rate of the statewide property tax on businesses and second homes from $3.33 to $4.30, while reducing the rates of the business profits tax from 8.5 percent to 8.0 percent and the business enterprise tax from .75 percent to .50 percent.  NHLRA is surveying the membership the get an idea what kind of impact these changes would have on our industry.

Rooms and Meals Tax Increase

State Representative Steve Vaillancourt of Manchester is proposing to increase the state rooms and meals tax from 8 to 10 percent and decrease from 3 to 1 percent the reimbursement to our industry for collecting the tax on behalf of the state.  The latter part of this proposal will remove $5 million annually from our industry bottom line.  Representative Vaillancourt will try to get special approval from the House Rules Committee to introduce this proposal after the filing deadline.  If he fails, he will attempt to convince the Ways & Means Committee to amend another bill.  NHLRA is preparing talking points for members to use in contacting the Ways and Means Committee to urge them to defeat this proposal.  Action on this proposal will occur within the next few weeks.