Our midstream progress report continues today, checking up on the status of some featured legislation we’ve covered so far this session.
For more background on each bill, click the links to the corresponding dispatches in the bolded heading.
Nearly two months into the 2011 legislative session, the new roster of lawmakers in Concord have already considered and voted on a slate of bills from A to Z. The action is fast and, at times, furious. All the more reason to step back and review where we are.
Today and Monday, we offer a pair of dispatches checking in on the legislation Front Door Politics has highlighted so far this session.
New changes to last year’s PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) law are being worked out to save the program from repeal.
Sponsored by Rep. Beatriz Pastor (D-Lyme), PACE became law last year, but hasn’t yet been used. A move to repeal it will be considered in an executive session in the House Municipal and County Government Committee today. But Pastor tells Front Door Politics that Republican committee leaders gave her a chance to change PACE in order to save it.
Substantial changes to New Hampshire election laws are on the table with two bills sponsored by Rep. Gregory Sorg (R-Easton). Perhaps expecting a crowd, their first public hearings, scheduled for tomorrow, will be held in the spacious Representatives Hall.
House Bill 223 would repeal the election-day voter registration law that’s been in place since 1994, while House Bill 176 would prevent most college students from voting in the town they reside. Sorg is the sole sponsor for both bills.
A scaled-down bipartisan proposal to revive gambling will have its first public hearing today. It comes a year after a bill to allow expanded gaming in New Hampshire passed the Senate but died in the House.
House Bill 593, sponsored by Rep. Edmond Gionet (R-Lincoln) would establish two casinos — “at least 100 miles apart” — offering video poker, slots and table games. The House Ways and Means Committee will consider how the bill proposes permitting the casinos, plus how it would distribute the state’s proceeds to offset the state education property tax and contribute to the highway fund.
A contentious debate is expected in Representative’s Hall Wednesday when the full House votes on a Republican-backed bill to repeal New Hampshire’s participation in the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
By a party line, 13-5 vote, the House Science, Energy and Technology Committee gave House Bill 519 an “ought to pass” recommendation last week. The proposal, sponsored by Rep. Richard Barry (R-Merrimack) has moved quickly from its public hearing on Feb. 10 to an executive session on Feb. 15 to this Wednesday’s full House vote, with no further subcommittee or committee work sessions in between.
When is a tax cut bill that passes the House not really a tax cut bill that passed the House?
New Hampshire saw the question asked and answered Wednesday when two tax cut proposals were approved by the full House. In a rare parliamentary move, House Republican leaders then stopped, or “tabled” the bills, preventing them from moving to and being considered by the Senate.
A new standard for local control — letting towns and cities establish their own revenue options such as an income or sales tax to replace the property tax — will have a public hearing this morning in the House Ways and Means Committee. The committee will also consider two bills which would turn back the clock on scores of taxes and fee increases enacted since 2006 (House Bill 646) and 2007 (House Bill 645) and would impact every generating office in state government.
The battle over the 2012-2013 New Hampshire state budget has officially commenced, and Gov. John Lynch will make the case for his $4.7 billion budget proposal to lawmakers at a public hearing tomorrow.
After a day-long hearing last week, a House committee is scheduled to make a recommendation today on a proposal to repeal New Hampshire’s participation in the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
The House Science, Energy and Technology Committee heard testimony from dozens of supporters and opponents of House Bill 519, which is sponsored by Rep. Richard Barry (R-Merrimack). Public interest was large enough for the committee to move the hearing to Representatives Hall. The hearing was also streamed live over the Internet.
