Rep Brodie Deshaies: Current House bills address prescriptions, rooms and meals tax

To The Daily Sun,

The New Hampshire House meets two days this week — Wednesday and Thursday. We are currently voting on bills as you read this letter. Here are a few bills I will be supporting:

SB 450 makes updates to the Prescription Drug Affordability Board. It creates a non-lapsing fund to collect fees to pay the board’s expenses and makes it easier to form a quorum. It also creates an appeals process for decisions made by the board. This will help strike a balance between the needs of patients and businesses while making prescription drugs more affordable — a concern shared by 85% of Granite Staters over the age of 45.

SB 343 would establish a committee to study room occupancy tax revenues and fees and the formula for distribution to municipalities. NH’s Meals and Rooms Tax revenues are currently shared per capita rather than basing the formula on a community's economic production. Towns like Wolfeboro drive this tax revenue but receive a limited amount of revenue. NH needs to rethink how Meals and Rooms Tax revenues are shared with communities. We must ease the burden on property taxpayers. Resort towns should receive more state tax revenue to defray infrastructure costs supporting our tourism industry. A committee should study this issue and bring suggestions to the legislature.

SB 269 establishes a commission to study the Energy Savings Weatherization Program. This program is vital to our local economy, decreasing energy costs, and supporting the environment. These investments help make homes more energy-efficient. This decreases the electricity demand and helps control energy prices. Less energy production is needed when demand falls, so fewer emissions are created. Many local contractors are employed in the winter by doing weatherizations. The winter season is less busy, so this program is a significant part of their business model.

Rep. Brodie Deshaies

Wolfeboro