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 the 400 seats in the House, while the Republicans still controlled the New Hampshire Senate 13 to 11.

New Hampshire also has an elected five-member Executive Council. Three members are now Democrats. The Executive Council’s duties include approving most State expenditures over $10,000. The newly elected Democratic Governor, Maggie Hassan, has to answer to three legislative bodies. Our Governor, like the Legislators, must stand for election every two years.

The New Hampshire House has 22 Standing Committees, members of which are chosen by the Speaker, Terie Norelli, and the Minority Leader, Gene Chandler.

The Democrats, since they have a majority in the House, have a majority of the seats on the Standing Committees. Much to my surprise, Speaker Norelli chose me to be a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which was my first choice. There are 11 Democrats on this committee and nine Republicans. The Committee Chairman is long-time member Susan Almy, and the vice chairman is her fellow Democrat, Patricia Lovejoy.

The Ways and Means Committee has to consider all bills related to revenues and come up with a budget for the State based on the Committee’s expectations of the State’s economy and expected revenues from various State agencies, fees, and taxes. Being on Ways and Means at times is essentially a full-time job. Votes are taken on the various bills being considered as well as the Budget and are often along party lines, though sometimes most or all of the Committee members find themselves in agreement. Fortunately we are all friendly and respectful of each other. I am seated between two long-time Republican House Members, both of whom I consider friends, though we may vote differently.

Our serious work started in early January 2013. The Ways and Means Committee had to hear testimony on any and all bills that concerned potential revenues as well as coming up with a budget for the State for the coming biennium, fiscal 2014 and 2015, which began July 1, 2013 . The Committee’s budget could only assume revenues that already existed and couldn’t count revenues that were only proposed and not yet signed into law.

Governor Hassan’s budget included $80 million dollars in fees from a proposed single high-end gambling casino which had not yet been voted on by the House or the Senate. Our Committee also heard a great deal of testimony about the economy, both about national and state economic trends.

As 2013 progressed, we saw that state revenues were increasing over 2012 and that the economy, both state and national, was slowly climbing up out of the recession we’ve been in for the last five years. Based on what we’d seen and heard, the Democrats on the Committee generally had fairly optimistic expectations of economic growth, whereas the Republicans’ projections were less optimistic.

The Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on dozens of proposed bills and would then have to report the bills out of committee for consideration by the House with a recommendation. If the Committee approved of a bill, the bill would be given the recommendation OTP (Ought To Pass). If the Committee voted against the bill, it would be given the recommendation ITL (Inexpedient to Legislate).

If the Committee wasn’t ready to vote a bill up or down, it could retain the bill for further study, as it is doing for a bill considering business tax credits for motion picture production in New Hampshire. We’ll resume work on retained bills in September. If a standing committee voted heavily in favor of a bill, that bill would frequently be passed by the full House; a heavy ITL vote would usually kill a bill.

There were several bills in the recent Legislative Session that were hotly contested and attracted lots of interest from citizens and the press. House Bill 135 sought to repeal the Stand Your Ground Law passed by the previous House and Senate; the repeal attempt failed in the Senate.

House Bill 370 sought to repeal the School Voucher Law passed in the previous biennium; that repeal failed also in the Republican Senate after being passed by the House. Vouchers were subsequently declared to be unconstitutional in Strafford County Superior Court.

Another bill generating lots of interest was HB 617, an attempt to increase the road (gas) tax to fund badly needed repairs to our roads and bridges. The Senate also killed this bill in retaliation for the House not approving Senate Bill 152, the Governor’s bill proposing a single high-end gambling casino.

The Senate also retaliated by killing HB 659, a bill passed by the House to increase the tax on cigarettes by 20 cents per pack. The 10 cents a pack tax reduction authorized by the prior Legislature, however, was rescinded on August 1, triggered by a drop in cigarette tax revenues.

Governor Hassan’s Casino Bill, SB 152, consumed a very large part of the House Ways and Means Committee’s time and energy for several weeks. More than 60 people testified for and against the bill before Ways and Means and the House Finance Committee during a hearing held on April 16.

Members of the Joint Committee, consisting of the members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Finance Committee, worked hard to amend the very poorly written bill received from the Governor by way of the Senate. A parliamentary maneuver by Joint Committee opponents of casino gambling ensured that the many amendments improving the bill were never heard, and the Joint Committee voted on May 15 to reject the bill by a vote of 23 to 22.

I voted in favor of the bill to let the amendments be heard, though I had serious doubts about depending on casino revenues to balance the State’s budget. The bill subsequently was defeated in a May 23 vote by the full House, 199 to 164, again without the amendments being heard.

New legislators like me must learn and not be discouraged that a lot of time and effort is wasted on legislation that, in the end, is killed. It is, however, likely that a new casino gambling bill as well as a new gas tax bill will be introduced this fall.

House Speaker Terie Norelli and Senate President Peter Bragdon appointed members from both houses to a Committee of Conference to settle differences in their respective budgets and come up with an agreed State budget bill to present to the House and the Senate. There were four negotiators appointed from the Senate, all but one Republican, and five from the House, all but one Democrat. There were also several alternates appointed from the membership of the House.

There was also a Committee of Conference dealing with capital expenditures. These committees convened on June 20 and completed their work by noon on June 25 after close to an all-night session June 24. They managed to present the House and Senate with an agreed-upon $4.7 billion budget for the biennium from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014.

The main bone of contention was proposed Medicaid expansion in New Hampshire, which would bring $2.5 billion to the State over several years and enable approximately 50,000 more low-paid New Hampshire residents to have medical insurance. The Conference Committee agreed to the creation of a commission to develop a New Hampshire model for Medicaid expansion, with a report to be presented by October 15. That commission started meeting on July 8.

The House and the Senate both gave strong approval to the negotiated budget on June 26 by passing the two budget bills unanimously in the Senate and by a more than 300-vote margin in the House.

The compromise budget for the biennium did a great deal to reverse the damage caused by the budget passed in June 2011. The budget helps education by restoring funding to the university and community college system in exchange for freezing in-state tuition. It also fully restores the UNIQUE scholarship program which provides some funding for deserving high-need New Hampshire residents to attend New Hampshire colleges. The budget also funds the existing adequacy formula for our kindergarten through 12th grade education system and increases funding to 58 towns. It also fully funds school building aid for current schools.

Regarding healthcare, Long Term Care funding is increased, fully funding county portions. $28 million is also provided to address the needs of the state’s strained mental healthcare system, including more available beds, subsidies for housing and support, more community treatment teams, and other community support services. The Developmental Disabilities wait list is eliminated. The CHINS (Children In Need of Services) program is restored. Funding is also provided to ensure that healthcare needs are met at the State’s Veterans Home. The State once again provides funds to hospitals for uncompensated care.

Other Budget highlights are as follows:

The distribution of funds from the Rooms and Meals Tax to local communities is increased by $5 million.

The New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) is fully funded at $8.6 million.

Increase in funding for travel and tourism promotion.

Economic Development efforts are strengthened and the State’s International Trade office is revitalized.

Funding is increased for family planning including Planned Parenthood.

Nearly $60,000 per year is restored in domestic violence funding.

The Gambling Regulatory Commission is extended and funded for one year.

A few public safety items in the budget:

Funds are increased for search and rescue operations at New Hampshire Fish and Game.

15 additional State Troopers are now on the road.

Vacancies are filled in the Attorney General’s office.

Drug Task Force teams are funded.

The budget provided $17 million for a new employee pay package, including the first pay raises in five years, though the State employees association is still negotiating with the State.

Finally, flood control payments of $785,000 are authorized for 2014 to be divided among 18 towns to mitigate the loss of taxable land due to flood control measures begun in the 1950s. Rep. Mario Ratzki’s HB 581, of which I was a sponsor, directed the Attorney General to go after Massachusetts to recover funds of at least $4 million owed New Hampshire under the Merrimack Valley Flood Control Compact.

There were several other bills passed that directly affected the individual towns, such as the following:

HB 193 allows a person without a permanent address to register a vehicle by certifying he or she is a resident by providing a letter using the address of a social service organization.

HB 195 delays until September 2015 phase two of the Voter ID law that was passed in 2012. Therefore, the Town Moderator won’t have to take a photo of a voter who has completed a qualified voter affidavit without a photo ID until September 1, 2015. The forms of IDs used to obtain a ballot are modified and relaxed compared to earlier requirements.

We are already starting work on retained bills. I am on a subcommittee made up of six members of the House Ways and Means Committee looking at HB 540-FN-A, which would establish a credit against business profits taxes for motion picture expenditures in New Hampshire. I am also on a Ways and Means subcommittee of five looking at HB 654-FN relative to licensure and renewal fees.

I am also on a committee pursuant to SB 67 made up of members of the Senate and the House, chaired by Senator Woodburn, to study access to public highways for food, fuel, and lodging by all-terrain vehicles, off-highway recreational vehicles, and low-speed utility vehicles.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. My home phone is 456 -2772 and my e-mail address is D_Karrick@nullMCTtelecom.com.

I am grateful to those of you who supported me in 2012, and I shall continue to do my best for all the residents of the towns in my district, Merrimack District 25.