Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Liquor Commission Staffing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances HB 538 to update New Hampshire Liquor Commission staffing titles
Summary
The House Committee on Executive Departments and Administration unanimously advanced House Bill 538, a one‑page cleanup bill that removes obsolete statutory references and retitles several Liquor Commission positions; the Legislative Budget Assistant reported no fiscal impact.
The House Committee on Executive Departments and Administration voted unanimously to advance House Bill 538, a one‑page measure to delete obsolete statutory job titles and add updated administrative positions at the New Hampshire Liquor Commission.
The bill removes language referring to a former three‑commissioner structure and deletes an unused Liquor Commissioner and a chief operating officer (COO) position. It creates two positions — director of administration (to take over COO duties) and director of finance and auditing — and places those positions at the same labor grade pending Joint Committee on Employee Classification review.
Joseph Mollica, chair of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission, told the committee HB 538 is “kind of just a cleanup bill” intended to align statutory language with the commission’s current organization. Mollica said the only technical addition is the director of finance and auditing position; otherwise the bill retitles or removes positions that already exist in practice.
Representative Schmidt asked whether the new classifications must go to the Joint Committee on Employee Classification (JCEC) for review. Committee members and Liquor Commission staff differed on procedural sequencing: committee members said JCEC is the executive review body for classification decisions, while Mollica described the commission’s understanding that the position is created in statute and then forwarded to the Department of Administration and JCEC for approval. A committee member noted Commissioner Arlinghaus had offered to arrange a meeting with JCEC to resolve the next steps.
Representative Pearson characterized the change as “budget neutral,” noting that because the bill reclassifies existing roles at the same pay grade, it appears to be “a 0 out” from a budgetary standpoint with the caveat that one affected position has been vacant. Committee staff reported the Legislative Budget Assistant (LBA) provided an updated fiscal note stating the bill has no fiscal impact.
Representative Land moved to pass the bill; the motion was seconded. The roll call vote recorded 16 yeas, 0 nays. Committee members placed HB 538 on consent for further processing.
Next steps for HB 538 include finalizing the classification paperwork with the Department of Administration and JCEC review of the proposed job grades before administrative implementation.
