2025 Legislative Agenda
BIA will work for solutions to the biggest challenges to New Hampshire’s continued economic success, including workforce availability, housing access and affordability, and high energy costs.
Click here or the image below to view and download complete PDF of the 2025 Legislative Agenda (two pages).
2025 Policy Priorities
THE CHALLENGE:
27% of New Hampshire’s workforce was age 55 or older in 2023, highest among all states. Recruiting and retaining the next generation of workers is critical to continued economic success.
SOLUTIONS:
- Explore ways to foster improved alignment and collaboration of various service providers in a more systemic statewide approach to workforce development.
- Support efforts to provide higher quality, more equitable educational and training opportunities across the state.
- Support efforts to increase Career and Technical Education, work-based learning, apprenticeships, internships, credentialling and Career Pathway programs.
- Explore private and public incentives to keep students in New Hampshire, including increased financial support for the state’s university and community college systems.
- Support employer efforts to recruit, hire and retain foreign-born workers with legal standing.
- Support employer efforts to capitalize on experience, facilitate an intergenerational workforce and create a culture of mentorship across sectors.
- Advocate for policies that strengthen the early childhood system, including increasing access to quality, affordable childcare to allow caregivers to return to the labor force.
- Support efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and equal opportunity in the workplace.
THE CHALLENGE:
New Hampshire saw a record $538,000 median sales price for single-family homes in 2024. Lack of housing supply across the market is a key driver of the state’s workforce shortage.
SOULTIONS:
- Support practical and reasonable efforts that increase market rate and affordable housing supply.
- Support increased incentives to communities that adopt housing-developer-friendly regulations.
- Oppose efforts to roll back or repeal core principles of workforce housing legislation, accessory dwelling unit legislation and the state Housing Appeals Board.
THE CHALLENGE:
New Hampshire’s electricity costs for industrial users in June 2024 were 90% higher than the U.S. average and commercial user costs were 47% higher. Uncompetitive prices increase the risk of losing companies to less expensive regions of the country.
SOLUTIONS:
- Advocate for an all-energy-resources approach to achieve a cost-effective, reliable, resilient and diverse resource mix with a preference for market-based approaches and the development of local sources.
- Support state and regional policies for system reliability and lower short- and long-term energy costs.
- Support clear, consistent and balanced state energy infrastructure siting policies.
- Support the implementation of cost-effective energy policies, such as energy efficiency, renewable energy programs, and commercial and industrial net metering.
- Oppose policies that lead to unjust or unreasonable cost-shifting to the business community.
THE CHALLENGE: Provide support, incentives and pro-growth policies to attract and retain businesses in burgeoning economic sectors such as life sciences, next-generation manufacturing and high-tech.
SOLUTIONS:
- Drive efforts to raise New Hampshire’s profile as an attractive location and business climate for the innovation and technology sector.
- Unify efforts to support the growth of innovative sectors and early startup businesses including strengthening connections between industry and the K-12 and post-secondary educational systems.
- Support local and state policies and public and private investment to build a state-of-the-art communications system including broadband and cellular networks to enhance economic and business growth.
- Advocate for balanced business and consumer interests in new or expanded regulations on artificial intelligence, data privacy, cyberthreat protections and data breach reporting.
THE CHALLENGE:
Government overreach infringes on decision making that should be the purview of private sector employers.
SOLUTIONS:
- Oppose efforts that hinder or remove an employer’s ability to make sound hiring and management decisions.
- Oppose government efforts to mandate “one-size-fits-all” employee benefits.
- Advocate for revision and modernization of New Hampshire labor statutes and regulations, such as RSA 275, to make them more clear, concise and internally consistent.
- Support private sector right-to-work legislation in New Hampshire.
- Oppose rule-making or legislative proposals that favor organized labor interests over those of business.
THE CHALLENGE:
Shifting regulations and statutes create uncertainty for businesses, diminish long-term planning and increase compliance costs.
SOLUTIONS:
- Support science-based policies and rules that balance economic impact with long-term sustainability of the state’s natural resources.
- Oppose efforts to establish specific environmental regulatory standards and policies by statute rather than by authorized regulatory bodies.
- Oppose efforts by state regulatory bodies to promulgate rules without first obtaining statutory authority.
- Oppose efforts to make New Hampshire’s environmental regulations and statutes more restrictive than federal environmental regulations, unless there is clear, science-based justification.
- Establishment and enforcement of regulations should occur at the state level, not the municipal level.
- Advocate for initiatives to streamline and expedite permitting and regulatory processes, including expansion of agency permitting timeline reporting requirements.
THE CHALLENGE:
New Hampshire must continue to develop and maintain vital infrastructure to support economic growth.
SOLUTIONS:
- Advocate for adequate and equitable investment in New Hampshire’s air, road and bridge network as well as improved local public transit opportunities.
- Oppose diversion of constitutionally protected highway fund revenue for non-highway, non-bridge-related programs.
- Support efforts to secure funding for increased investment in water and sewer infrastructure that allow for additional business and housing development.
THE CHALLENGE: Protect the New Hampshire Advantage of business-friendly regulatory and tax policies that foster economic growth.
SOLUTIONS:
- Oppose an income tax or sales tax.
- Oppose any proposal that increases the Business Enterprise, Business Profits, or Interest and Dividends tax rates.
- Support efforts to improve New Hampshire’s research and development tax credit and oppose any effort to reduce or repeal this credit.
THE CHALLENGE: The high cost of employee health care coverage reduces employers’ ability to grow and makes it more difficult for workers to afford health insurance.
SOLUTIONS:
- Support adequate funding for Medicaid health-care providers to reduce cost-shifting to the business community.
- Oppose new or expanded health insurance mandates.
- Support efforts that address health care cost-drivers and increase transparency.
- Support initiatives that address employees’ mental and physical health in the workplace.
- Advocate for greater transparency to address the high price of prescription drugs.