As New Hampshire lawmakers debated changes to the state budget—eventually passing a bill to plug a nearly $300 million hole—one might have thought they were looking at two completely different documents.
In the end, the optimistic version won, and we won’t know until the receipts come in how realistic it is. Either way, Gov. Lynch praised the legislation and is expected to sign Special Session House Bill 1 into law.
Continue Leave a Comment June 14, 2010
After budget negotiations between the House and Senate broke down last week, Gov. Lynch and the Executive Council called lawmakers back to Concord for a special session on June 9. House and Senate leaders Terie Norelli and Sylvia Larsen are scheduled to release a bill the afternoon of June 7 that will get a public hearing June 8 and go to the House and Senate for debate on June 9.
They didn’t start from scratch in writing this bill. It includes $270 million in budget cuts and adjustments that were already agreed to by a joint House-Senate conference committee in recent weeks.
That committee walked away from budget talks, however, over the remaining $30 million and the issue of expanded gambling.
Continue Leave a Comment June 8, 2010
Facing a $210-220 million budget shortfall, Gov. John Lynch has released a three-part plan to cut spending, restructure debt and increase revenue for New Hampshire. He’ll present ideas requiring immediate action to the House and Senate Finance Committees on April 15. Further action will be left to the entire Legislature.
Lynch cited the recession—lower tax revenues and increased demand for services—and the Supreme Court ruling that JUA funds are off-limits as part of the problem. He did not question how realistic the monetary projections had been on which the budget was founded.
Continue Leave a Comment April 12, 2010
In his 14 years as a New Hampshire legislator, Rep. David Bickford (R-New Durham) has seen efforts to re-calculate child support come and go. Many—about a dozen each year—make their way through the House or the Senate, but few succeed.
“We’re just Johnny-come-lately to make a change,” Bickford says. “We hire people, they work like dogs and come out with good reports, and the legislators say, ‘It’s over my head. We’ll study it and then get back to it maybe,’ and then we don’t. … I’ve just never seen anything move so slow.”
Bickford sponsored six of the 11 bills relating to child support this year, including House Bill 1474, which passed the House March 17. It would create a commission to move child support guidelines toward an “income shares” model. Other bills that have passed the House would tweak the support formula for multiple children and for shared custody.
March 25 this year marks Crossover, the deadline for the N.H. House and Senate to vote on all bills that originated in those respective chambers.
Bills must pass the chamber in which they’re introduced before “crossing over” to the opposite chamber. Legislation that’s still alive after Crossover receives a second public hearing and potential floor debate before the second deadline in mid-May.
And some notable legislation is either still up for its first vote, or on its way to the other side.
Continue Leave a Comment March 13, 2010
The state’s share of education funding could remain capped at 2009 levels, according to two bills awaiting floor debate in the Senate. Either measure would save the state about $70 million a year from current funding obligations.
How good that looks depends on what town you’re looking from.
Continue Leave a Comment March 5, 2010
Unused prescription drugs could soon be donated to some uninsured or underinsured patients in New Hampshire. The Board of Pharmacy is working with three test sites in Hanover, Rochester and Exeter to roll out the Unused Prescription Drug Program created by the Legislature in 2006.
It’s a social cause that could save the state a lot of money, too.
With gay marriage now legal, a Constitutional debate gets underway. Plus: General John Stark weighs in on the helmet law, immunization exemptions may not just be for the religious anymore, and one former business owner sparks legislation to end unemployment taxes for the self-employed. It’s all in a week’s work, and it will wrap up with Gov. Lynch’s State of the State address on Jan. 21.
Continue Leave a Comment January 15, 2010
Meeting for only the second time since it took summer recess in June, House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth) had to remind the 400-member chamber to behave on several occasions when collective boos, cheers and jeers followed various speeches and votes.
This may help explain why lots of activity resulted in definitive votes on only 11 pieces of legislation, by her count. The remainder will be taken up in subsequent weeks.
Continue Leave a Comment January 12, 2010
In two separate cases, courts last week temporarily froze $119 million critical to the state’s brand new budget. This won’t leave the Granite State to issue IOUs like California has resorted to. But, it could mean a summer session for the Legislature.
And that could mean a second chance for gambling, another go at business and other taxes, or deeper cuts to services.
Continue Leave a Comment July 9, 2009
