New legislation SB-203 sponsored by Senator Jeb Bradley(R) Wolfeboro has been signed into law by Governor Lynch. Bradley said passage of the legislation was the top priority of the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association, the state’s largest business advocacy group. The legislation was also supported by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce.
Bradley said the legislation was necessary to ensure that the requirements for creation of an LLC or limited liability company were as user friendly as possible and that NH’s filing requirements for an LLC made doing business in New Hampshire more attractive than other states. The original New Hampshire LLC law was enacted in 1993 and in the twenty years since then other states had moved ahead of New Hampshire in terms of ease of filing. LLCs are by far and away the most common form of business organization not only for small businesses but for some larger ones as well. There are over 50,000 LLCs in New Hampshire.
“We all saw how important LLC’s were during the debate about the LLC Tax in a previous legislative session. I have rarely seen business owners as upset about an issue as they were with the LLC Tax. I worked to repeal that tax and am glad we have aggressively moved to both simplify and codify the rights and responsibilities of members of an LLC. Small business is the backbone of our state and I am glad this legislation will make the filing and operation of an LLC easier for entrepreneurs,” said Bradley.
Specifically SB-203 creates off the shelf LLC operating agreements, defines several formerly ambiguous terms, defines the fiduciary roles of LLC members which should eliminate disputes and litigation among members of an LLC, and uses plain English to define the statute. Existing LLCs may voluntarily opt into the new LLC law.
Jim Roche, President of the Business and Industry Association said, “Passage of Senator Bradley’s legislation was one of our top priorities in 2012. Our existing LLC statute was 20 years old. There were many issues critical to small businesses in the existing law that were vague or undefined, putting these companies at a competitive disadvantage. We worked with Senator Bradley throughout the legislative process to get this bipartisan bill passed. Passage of this bill will help small businesses succeed and grow, and ultimately result in job growth and increased investment in New Hampshire. Job growth and improving our economy needs to be New Hampshire’s top priority,” Roche added. “The BIA appreciates the leadership and experience Senator Bradley displayed while guiding this bill through the legislative process, and the support of numerous cosponsors who understand that job growth results from a favorable business climate.”.
