Alderman LeBrun
| want to go back to HB-124, the Aircraft bill, and explain it for those who are not familiar with it. The reason |
filed the bill is because New Hampshire finds itself in a unique position. All the surrounding states have either
eliminated or drastically reduced their registration fees. In New Hampshire, a corporate aircraft can cost
$300,000 to register; in Massachusetts, you can do it for $300.00. Massachusetts has also done away with
their sales tax on aircraft and aircraft parts. That was the reason | originally filed the bill. What we did, as we
were going along we modified it and changed some of the registrations on private aircraft as well. There is a
10-year plan similar to the automobile registration, that it decreases over a period until you get to 10 years and
you pay nothing. But the corporations -- in fact, in Portsmouth, Green Mountain Coffee was at the negotiating
table when they got a phone call and said “Knock off negotiations with New Hampshire, we’re going to
Massachusetts.” The green building down on 128 or 28 is what Green Mountain Coffee built. There are
probably 10,000 jobs that they took down there with them. That was the reason for filing the bill. We have to
come in line with what the states around us are doing. We're surrounded by states that have either eliminated
or drastically reduced their registration fees.
President McCarthy
Just to follow-up on that, there was a lot of discussion when that bill took place of what are we going to do with
the revenue we lose, because we won't be getting the $300,000, to which the response was “we're not getting it
now.” | talked with people who deal in airplanes and they would say their customers would come and say, “|
want you get me one of these and | want it to be 10 years and 1 day old when | take possession of it so that |
get out of the registration fee.” We currently have a fairly large number of very expensive jets operating out of
Nashua, to our great economic benefit. The jets now — it used to be we had a lot of worries about noise, but
with the Stage 3 noise regulations, the jets that are here are very quiet. There were at one point 21 of them on
the airport, which | hardly ever see them out. They’re either in the hanger or they’re flying. But that has brought
a number of companies to Nashua that were beneficial. There’s a company that’s developing new infrared
cameras so that planes can basically land in zero visibility. We're getting some really good economic benefits
out of those planes being there.
Alderwoman Melizzi-Golja
Just to add on to that, that bill is so important, and | think most of us just think that the airport is there and it’s the
airport and none of us fully appreciate the economic impact the airport has, in terms of companies who are here
as well as just the jobs that are there and the services that are being provided to the planes that are flying in
and out. Increasing traffic at the airport is certainly something that’s important for our community.
Alderman LeBrun
Just to add to what’s been said about this bill, we have found a way to make it revenue neutral. Putting in this
$1.2 million we were going to lose if the bill went through in its original form, and we found a way by amending
the bill and re-amending it as the process went along, to make it revenue neutral. So the state is not going to
lose anything.
Alderman Lopez
Not to completely pivot, some other comments were made following mine regarding the vulnerability of children
to human trafficking when they’re homeless and the need to have affordable housing. | was just reminded of an
effort that Alderman and Representative O’Brien was working on towards the beginning of last year, where it
came to light through discussions at the Substandard Living Conditions committee that it’s a fairly regular
practice for a landlord who is filing an eviction of a tenant to file it in a city other than where they are necessarily
able to appear in court to defend themselves. This is a protection against inappropriate eviction. If anything, it
doesn’t seem very just to me that somebody who is in the process of being evicted and may not have
transportation to a different city has to go there to just defend themselves. | know this was an effort that did not
succeed in the State House, but | would love for it to be re-evaluated or looked at and followed up on. | think if
somebody is going to face eviction or be told to leave their home, the least we can do is make sure they can get
to the court.
