CONCORD – Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a bill Friday involving the overpayment of unemployment compensation that drew quick criticism from state Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton. He also signed 29 bills into law.
Sununu said under vetoed S.B. 42 if a claimant was found ineligible after being paid benefits because they provided information to the Department of Employment Security they knew and understood was inaccurate, employers expect the state to recoup those funds and ensure they go to eligible claimants.
“Without the accrual of interest, individuals do not have an incentive to pay these funds back. In other words, this bill would allow ineligible beneficiaries to get an interest-free loan on the backs of New Hampshire employers,” Sununu said in his veto message.
Assistant Democratic Leader Whitley said it was appalling that Sununu chose to veto a bipartisan piece of legislation that would have helped so many Granite Staters.
“The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in significant job loss for many of our residents, most severely in our service and health care sectors – sectors with workers who are predominantly women.
“To imply that these individuals – who did their best to work in a flawed and rushed system, after losing their jobs and needing to pay their rent and buy food – purposely manipulated the system is a troubling and deeply unfair characterization,” Whitely said in an email statement.
“To be crystal clear, this bill will only eliminate interest on overpayments where fraud was not present. These individuals should not be required to pay overly punitive interest, while they are already paying back the overpayment funds, especially when we are already prohibited from doing so on federal overpayments. We don’t require interest on any other benefit, and are only one of a handful of states that charge interest in this situation,” Whitley said.
The reality, Whitley said, is that businesses that paid into the unemployment system received millions of dollars in loans during the pandemic that they never had to pay back. “It is regrettable and totally heartbreaking that the governor failed to stand up for Granite Staters during some of the most difficult periods of their lives,” Whitley said.
New Hampshire Employment Security Commissioner George Copadis thanked Sununu for the veto.
“Giving people an interest free loan from the unemployment fund when someone has manipulated the system in order to get benefits they were not eligible for, should not be something we are doing.
“We should be discouraging this type of behavior and not be suggesting it is inconsequential. Employers fund this system with the expectation the department pays benefits to those that are eligible,” Copadis said.
The state is currently attempting to recoup $6 million in overpayments from between 2017 and 2022.
A copy of the Governor’s veto message can be read here.
The 29 bills Sununu signed Friday are listed here:
- HB 139: Relative to hydrogen and establishing a hydrogen advisory committee
- HB 249: Establishing regulatory standards for pet insurance industry and allowing restaurant owners to keep their dog on the premises
- HB 268: Relative to the furnishing of special number plates to the liquor commission, division of enforcement and licensing, and official cover plates for house and senate clerks
- HB 377: Relative to screening and intervention in public schools and public charter schools for dyslexia and related disorders and establishing an addition to adequate education grants for certain pupils screened for dyslexia and related disorders
- HB 426: Relative to regulation of pharmacists in charge and pharmacies
- HB 491: Relative to prohibiting the use of prone restraint for minors
- SB 31: Relative to technical changes to the laws administered by the insurance department
- SB 32: Relative to the opioid abatement trust fund
- SB 66: Relative to financial transactions involving the liquidation or rehabilitation of an insurer in which the Federal Home Loan Bank is a party
- SB 67: Relative to changes to certain weights and measures statues
- SB 76: Relative to reporting of medico-legal deaths
- SB 89: Relative to accommodation for medical reasons in issuing marriage licenses
- SB 103: Including the raid on Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth in the planning of the American revolution sestercentennial commission
- SB 110: Relative to residency status
- SB 113: Relative to the electric utility system benefits charge
- SB 118: Requiring children under the age of 2 years to be restrained in a motor vehicle
- SB 136: Prohibiting the employment or volunteering of a revoked or suspended educator
- SB 139: Relative to the price of Lucky 7 tickets
- SB 161: Relative to low-moderate income community solar projects
- SB 171: Relative to the definition of youth recreational programs
- SB 183: Exempting certain phone calls from the right to know law
- SB 189: Relative to the definition of gross business profits in determining taxable business profits
- SB 197: Relative to the operation and regulation of certain business entities within the state
- SB 204: Requiring trauma kits to be available in state – owned buildings
- SB 215: Relative to nursing certification requirements
- SB 222: Relative to the definition of broadband infrastructure as a revenue-producing facility eligible for municipal revenue bonds
- SB 245: Relative to the inspection of hotel guest records
- SB 268: Allowing for pre-hospital treatment and transportation for operational canines
- SB 269: Relative to tip pooling and sharing