Pay attention, Washington. Here in New Hampshire, compromise is not a dirty word. On September 16, the Senate and the House went into session and came out with an agreement on the 2016/2017 budget.

The $11.3 billion budget had passed the House and Senate on a partisan basis. It was vetoed by Governor Hassan and her veto would have been upheld in both the House and Senate where Democrats had enough votes to do just that. This stalemate was resolved at the eleventh hour with a new compromise budget, adopted by both bodies: unanimously in the Senate; 321 to 25 on HB 1, and 326 to 21 on HB2. We ended the day with a bipartisan budget.

Representative O’Brien did try to derail this budget, but he was unable to get enough Republicans to follow his lead. The final vote was a repudiation of former speaker O’Brien’s hardline positions. It was speaker Jasper, Representative Hinch, and former speaker Gene Chandler who ruled the day.

The first hurdle came early when we were asked to suspend the rules. This vote was the high water mark for Bill O’Brien when he got 93 votes to 285 and failed to stop the suspension of the rules. That vote opened the door to SB 9, which was the Compromise Bill just unanimously passed by the Senate. Representative Hoell then offered multiple amendments to SB 9, amendments tailored on bills that Governor Hassan had vetoed , and whose vetoes had already been upheld by the House and the Senate. Ironically, these were bills that had the support of most Republicans, but because SB 9 could not be amended without reopening the budget debate, Majority Whip Hinch pleaded with his caucus to vote no on each amendment and SB 9 passed 291 to 73.

This compromise includes the 2% pay increase to state workers, the establishment of a legislative oversight committee on employee relations, and an accelerated reduction in business tax rates which would be eliminated in 2018 if the state failed to collect $4.64 billion in total revenues.

The renewal of Medicaid expansion was not included in this budget; and while Democrats were unhappy, I am ready to trust the Republican leaders in the Senate to do what they promised to do. That is find a way to renew Medicaid expansion at a probable cost of $12 million from December 31, 2016 to July 2017. After that date, our cost will probably be around $24 million per year, a small amount when you think that the federal government will put approximately $400 million a year on the table for New Hampshire.

All in all, this budget is roughly 5% more than the last budget.

In other news, I have introduced a bill relative to broadband expansion with the help of Science and Technology committee member Representative Townsend.

I am well aware of the lack of broadband accessibility in areas of Danbury and Salisbury especially; but also Andover to a lesser extent.

I am always available at 735 5440 and at marioratzki@nullgmail.com