CONCORD: The state of New Hampshire has filed suit in the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge a decision by Massachusetts to continue taxing Granite State residents who normally work in the Bay State but who have been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. The state responded after final ruling of an emergency regulation was issued by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. The regulation will remain in effect until Dec. 31 or 90 days after the coronavirus state of emergency in Massachusetts is lifted.
CONCORD: Gov. Chris Sununu does not need the oversight of the Legislative Fiscal Committee in spending CARES Act money, a Hillsborough County North Superior Court judge has ruled. The ruling was a victory for the governor over the Legislature’s Democratic majority. In his 18-page ruling, Judge David A. Anderson said essentially that the committee does not have blanket oversight on expenditures above a certain amount during a state of emergency, because such oversight is not in the statutes related to emergencies that were written for the committee in 2002 after 9/11.
CONCORD: Schools in New Hampshire are getting an additional $45 million to help with coronavirus-related expenses, Gov. Chris Sununu announced. Most of the money — which comes to the state through the federal CARES Act — will go to school districts directly, at a rate of approximately $200 per pupil. Sununu said the per-pupil funds can be spent flexibly any time before the end of 2021.
CONCORD: New Hampshire is among a group of 25 states whose attorneys general are opposing a settlement of U.S. opioid cases being negotiated with Purdue Pharma LP and members of the wealthy Sackler family who own it. They argue the deal would improperly entangle state and local officials with future sales of the company’s addictive pain drug OxyContin. The letter was signed mostly by Democratic state attorneys general, although New Hampshire AG Gordon MacDonald is a Republican.
CONCORD: New Hampshire has joined a $1.6 billion settlement agreement with opioid maker Mallinckrodt that included attorneys general from 50 states and territories, Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald announced Monday. Last year, New Hampshire filed a 68-page complaint in Merrimack County Superior Court against Mallinckrodt alleging that between 2006 and 2014 Mallinckrodt accounted for 21.81% of all opioid transactions in New Hampshire, the highest amount of any opioid manufacturer during that period.
CONCORD: New Hampshire’s unemployment rate for September was 6%, a slight decrease from August, according to the Department of Employment Security. The September 2019 seasonally adjusted rate was 2.6%. The number of unemployed residents decreased by 4,410 over the month, to 44,510 — 24,580 more unemployed than in September 2019. From August to September 2020, the total labor force increased by 3,490 to 741,740. This was a decrease of 34,650 from September 2019.
CONCORD: Gov. Chris Sununu said during a recent weekly press briefing that reducing the rate of the rooms and meals tax to help restaurants and hotels is on the table. InDepthNH reported that the governor said he will work with the Legislature to try to help the businesses survive, and one way might be to reduce the tax. During the briefing, the governor noted that hotels and restaurants are among the areas hardest hit economically by the pandemic.
WASHINGTON, D.C: A total of $557,000 is going to the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund to support small businesses and promote economic growth in communities amid the pandemic, the state’s congressional delegation said Tuesday. The award was allocated by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which enables organizations like the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund to increase lending and investment activity in low-income and economically distressed communities.
