Allan Reetz, director of public and government affairs of the Hanover Co-op, accepts the Cornerstone Award at NH Business for Social Responsibility’s May 4 annual conference from Marianne Bradley of Normandeau Associates, right, and Michelle Veasey, NHBSR executive director. Also at the event, which drew over 200 participants, The Nature Conservancy, Clean Energy NH, NH Community Develop Finance Authority, NH Small Business Development Center, SkiNH and Ceres were presented with the 2022 Partnership for Innovation for their Energy Week partnership, and the Changemaker Award was presented to Paul Michael, a Granite State College student and supervisor at Lindt Chocolate. (Photo by John Benford Photography)
Despite the excitement that officials said the Granite State Paid Family Leave Plan was generating in the industry, only two bids from insurance companies were submitted by the Monday deadline.
The state Department of Administrative Services would not offer any other information on which companies submitted a bid and what they proposed, saying that the process is confidential by law.
“I won’t comment on whether the number of responses is good or bad,” said Administrative Services Commissioner Charlie Arlinghaus. “We get the bids and then we work with them.”
The bids were in response to a request for proposals issued at the end of March.
The paid family leave plan would piggyback on a state-offered benefit to about 11,000 state employees. It would provide participants with up to 60 percent of salary to take care of a family member for up to six weeks. Private employers would be eligible to join, and the state would give them a tax break to do so. Employees can also join individually at a premium capped at $5 a week — subsidized, if need be, by earmarking the insurance tax paid by the vendor for that purpose.
The RFP timeline doesn’t say how long it will take for the state to evaluate the program, but after it picks a tentative winner, the state will negotiate a final contract with the intention of submitting it to the Executive Council in either June and July. But Arlinghaus indicated that the timeline was more of a guideline.
The program is expected to be available in January.
— BOB SANDERS
