To the residents of Andover, Danbury, Salisbury, Warner, and Webster: It has been a very interesting eight months for those of us newly elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2012. We woke up the morning after Election Day to the news that the Democratic Party had a comfortable majority of 221 of […]
House reconvenes in September
An interesting fact of legislative rule is that a defeated bill cannot simply be reintroduced in the following year, without substantial changes. The Gaming Commission now meeting in Concord, with members appointed by the Governor, the Senate, and the House Speaker, is working to address some of the issues that caused the casino bill to […]
Bipartisan budget passes, Medicaid expansion fails
The 2014-2015 budget passed the New Hampshire House with 346 votes for and 12 against; it passed unanimously in the Senate. Everyone from Governor Hassan to former speaker Bill O’Brien claimed credit for the bipartisan vote, but the credit, no doubt, resides with New Hampshire voters who told us to stop bickering, avoid political grandstanding, […]
For many years, the Highland Lake Protection Association (HLPA) has sold flares for the July 4th weekend “Flare Show.” It has been an important annual fundraiser, selling approximately 100 flares. Last year, a handful of HLPA members hired ChemServe, an environmental analyst recommended by the state, to analyze the ash created from the flares. The […]
Can the NH budget be reconciled?
Breaking News! June 21 – The House and the Senate have reached agreement on the budget. Medicaid expansion will not happen now, but a commission will study expansion and report later this year at which point we will get a chance to vote on it again. In great news, flood control payments were 100% restored […]
Voting for the casino bill was hard.
The recent late frost hit my grapevines hard. The leaves and the buds were 90% to 100% burned. Not unlike some of my most dedicated supporters, incensed by my support of SB 152, the casino bill. I voted to talk about it and make it better, not to kill it. My “No” vote was a […]
On March 19, the Andover Constitution Freedom Alliance held a public meeting to discuss the UN’s Agenda 21 and its relationship to sustainable communities. Guest speakers were Tim Carter and Greg Carson (one con and one pro). The meeting was well attended by over 75 citizens and had some very good questions for both gentlemen. […]
House passes budgets with less downshifting of costs
The main event occurring in Concord recently was the adoption of the operating and capital budgets in the House. The operating budget (the day-to-day operations of the State), HB 1 and HB 2, passed on a mostly partisan basis , 194 to 172 and 193 to 166. The revenues used in this budget did not […]
First, a technical point. When we vote for a bill in the House or the Senate, we do not actually vote on the bill itself, but rather on the originating committee’s recommendation for the bill. For example, HB 337 (total legalization of marijuana) came out of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee with a […]
The main event in Concord this week (February 11 to 17) was the unveiling of Governor Hassan’s budget for fiscal years 2014-2015. I have a copy of the budget summary and would be glad to lend it to anyone interested. In this budget, the governor will make some assumptions about revenues; for instance, a raise […]