They Said It this week features an attempted repeal of RGGI and a possible temporary cut in New Hampshire’s gas tax.
What quotables have you read or heard that you think help reveal the verbal tenor of the 2011 legislative session? Email suggestions for the Daily Briefing to NH@FrontDoorPolitics.com.
The temporary five-cent gas tax cut passed the House yesterday. Is it political posturing or an altruistic measure for cash-strapped New Hampshire consumers? We look at three sides of the nickel, and welcome your thoughts, too.
There’s been a lot of debate about liberty this legislative session. But one never knows how the ideal will emerge — or in what legislation.
Case in point: A proposed law about residential fire sprinklers provides an intriguing confluence between personal liberty, public safety and local control. When the N.H. House votes later today on Senate Bill 91, it will offer one perspective on the cost of liberty.
Remember the recent uproar over public employee unions in New Hampshire? The one about eliminating collective bargaining obligations when labor contracts end?
It was slipped into the House budget proposal, but the N.H. Senate has stripped the controversy from its version of the budget. And now, a Senate committee has reshaped House Bill 580, which also included a collective bargaining provision that organized labor strongly opposed.
It’s no secret: Some Republicans and all Democrats in the House are less than impressed with the leadership style of House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon).
A recent story in the Concord Monitor touched on the efforts of two Republicans — Rep. Susan Emerson of Rindge and Rep. Marshall “Lee” Quandt of Exeter — to lead a coup against O’Brien.
What would you do with a few extra nickels?
If it seems like politicians want to cut the gasoline tax every time fuel prices begin to skyrocket, as we’ve seen during the past month, well you’re right.
You may recall, for example, how the massive gas price hikes during the summer of 2008 (during a presidential election season, by the way) brought out urgent political calls for a gas tax cut. Last week, the N.H. Republican House leadership said one solution to today’s high gas prices is a temporary 5 cent per gallon cut in the tax through June 30.
Naturally, Gov. John Lynch disagrees.
In our latest installment of They Said It, we hear people talking this week about the budget, the budget, and the budget. And right-to-work. And politics, of course.
Did we miss something? Submit your nominations for the next They Said It to NH@FrontDoorPolitics.com.
We’re shaking these up at Front Door Politics. Starting next week, senior correspondent Michael McCord will be contributing a news analysis blog to our daily offerings. He’ll keep it conversational and breezy — and insightful, as only someone who’s been covering Concord for nearly 30 years can do. Meanwhile, the nuts-and-bolts reporting will take a [...]
Later today, the Senate Finance committee will hear public testimony for the first time on the overall $10.3 billion biennium budget passed by the House last month.
Expect a long list of speakers to line up in Representatives Hall to support or oppose the myriad proposals for revenue and spending in 2012-2013. Senate budget writers have until June 2 to complete their version of the budget, at which point the House and Senate will have to hammer out any differences.
The committee is scheduled for two (2) two-hour sessions this afternoon and this evening on the main budget bills, House Bill 1 and House Bill 2.
What does it mean to be a Right-to-Work state?
Depending on one’s political perspective, it could mean more employee freedom and a better business climate, or it could mean lower pay for workers.
The New Hampshire Senate will give its answer to the question Wednesday when it takes up one of the more controversial issues of the session with House Bill 474.
