Legislative and Governmental Affairs

Devine Millimet's Legislative and Governmental Affairs Practice Group, based in the state capital in Concord, New Hampshire, is made up of seasoned professionals from across the political spectrum. Our team includes veterans of service in state executive branch departments as well as experienced political campaigners, all of whom are well-qualified to help our clients through the challenges and opportunities presented by the unique nature of state government in New Hampshire: a legislative branch made up of 424 citizen legislators, and an executive branch that is headed up not just by a governor, but also by the five members of the executive council.

We are prepared to respond quickly and effectively for our clients when they are confronted by state actions such as legislative initiatives or administrative rulemaking. But we also recognize that the governmental process can provide our clients with affirmative opportunities to resolve impediments to achieving their business goals. We regularly provide legislative leaders with proposed legislation to address problems confronting businesses and individuals, and we also work regularly with executive branch agencies both in formal rulemaking proceedings and in more informal settings where departmental actions are at issue.

The clients we represent include businesses in highly regulated areas such as health care, energy, telecommunications, gaming and environmental law. We handle work on behalf of business associations and also not-for-profit entities and organizations. The Legislative and Governmental Affairs Practice Group provides a full range of services: we monitor the legislative and administrative processes; draft legislation and regulations; prepare and deliver testimony on pending legislation and rules; and develop and coordinate lobbying strategies designed to bring success to our clients.

As a part of one of northern New England's largest law firms, we are able to call upon the expert assistance of our colleagues throughout the firm as we develop our governmental strategies and prepare our substantive responses to proposed changes in laws and rules in the highly technical areas of the law where we operate. We also work closely with Devine Strategies, our strategic consulting subsidiary, in developing effective communications, grass roots efforts, and issues management to achieve our clients' most important objectives.

Representative Clients

Increased Medicaid Payments To Nursing Homes. For several years, the Department of Health and Human Services had been reducing nursing home Medicaid rates ostensibly because there was not enough money in the appropriation made by the legislature in the State budget. Nevertheless, at the end of each fiscal year, the Department was lapsing back to the General Fund millions of dollars in nursing home Medicaid funds which the Department told the legislature was "surplus" money. Over the objections of the Department, we were able to persuade the legislature to enact a statute which prohibited that money from lapsing, and which ordered that the "surplus" money had to be paid out to the nursing homes after the fiscal year ended. Less than a year later, Governor Lynch personally appeared before the House Finance Committee and asked that that this law be repealed. We successfully opposed that repeal.

Creation Of Economic Revitalization Zones. This landmark measure which we drafted and lobbied authorized the establishment of areas (known today as Economic Revitalization Zones) in certain locations around the state where job creation and economic development were particularly critical. The law, which the Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee called "historic", marked the first time that New Hampshire had established a state tax break as a tool to attract or retain businesses.

Improvements In Net Operating Loss. DMB has had several successes in seeing improvements to the way New Hampshire addresses net operating loss. We first achieved the passage of a bill that upped the net operating loss limits from $250,000 to $1,000,000. We then drafted and lobbied for legislation which repealed an existing Department of Revenue Administration rule that required losses to be carried back before they could be carried forward, a rule which had the net effect of simply soaking off losses which a business might apply against profits in future years. The DRA estimated that this bill saves $2 million to $4 million for New Hampshire businesses each year.

Obtaining New Federal Medicaid Funding Source For Nursing Homes. This legislation which we lobbied and assisted in drafting established a complex system whereby bed fees are combined with federal matching funds and then returned to the nursing homes. The law has resulted in an increase of about $25 million per year in new federal Medicaid funding for nursing homes in the state. Importantly, the law also contained a contingency section which ensured that the state was required to maintain the existing level of state general fund dollars currently being paid to nursing homes, and that the state could not divert any of this money from the nursing homes to other uses.

Passage Of Eminent Domain Replacement Value. Another novel bill which we authored and lobbied to passage by the legislature involved eminent domain payments. In what we think was the first such legislation of its kind which was passed anywhere in the country, HB 1393 in 2002 was designed to require the state to provide business owners with their replacement costs in the event that their property was taken by eminent domain. Under current law, businesses receive only fair market value in return for their property, an amount which in some circumstances may be only a fraction of what it actually costs the business to set up and continue the operation of the business in another place. Unfortunately, although we successfully saw the bill through to passage by both the House and the Senate, HB 1393 was vetoed by the Governor. We came just short of getting that veto overturned in the House, which voted 182 to 161 in favor of an override.

Expanding the Scope of Certification of Wetlands Scientists. We were asked to work to expand the professional scope of services covered by the state wetlands scientist certification program in order to deal with the expanded responsibilities of these professionals in dealing with state and local permitting requirements. Working with our client, we drafted legislation, identified sponsors, and helped formulate the legislative strategy to promote passage of the bill in a single session. The effort was successful, and HB 1487 was passed into law and signed by the Governor. By reaching out to other potentially concerned constituencies early on in the process to educate them on the bill's intent and to understand their concerns, we were able to ensure that this bill had a smooth legislative ride through the session.