The House session of February 10 dealt with early House bills, many of which had to be referred to a second committee. For example, HB 1696, the Medicaid expansion bill, passed the House on a 207-136 bipartisan vote but needs to go to Finance before coming back to the House for another vote. If passed […]
Electronic voting system fails during Citzens United vote
On behalf of my wife and myself, I would like to extend our condolences to the family of Don Gross. He will be missed. There was plenty of drama in our first two-day session of 2016 in the State House. Perhaps the most unusual moment came when the electronic voting system failed. It failed in […]
Concord votes to study opioid crisis
The House voted 290 to 46 and the Senate unanimously, in favor of establishing a task force to come up with a plan to address our opioid crisis . The task force would report to the House, Senate and Governor by January 6 and file legislation by January 12. Governor Hassan would have preferred an […]
Supporting school building aid, a state bank, and broadband
The Fiscal Committee voted to increase state retirees’ prescription costs by $5. This new rule, designed to save the state $2 million, was approved by a seven to three vote. This will affect all state retirees, including those over 65. Retirees under 65 may also see an increase in their health insurance premiums, from 12.5% […]
Legislature passes bipartisan budget
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 […]
Political posturing by both parties creates an impasse
In the spring of 2013 there were major disagreements between the New Hampshire Republican-led State Senate and the Democrat-led State House of Representatives. Both houses, however, were able to come together at the last hour at the end of June 2013 to agree on a bi-partisan compromise budget. Things are different in 2015. As most […]
Flurry of letters doesn't end budget impasse
The State Legislature in Concord is on vacation. The state budget battle has been put on hold, at least for July. There are no plans, as of yet, to have the Governor, House, and Senate Republicans meet to hash out their differences. Speaker Jasper did send out a letter to all Democratic members of both […]
Battle over State budget continues in Concord
On June 23, the House passed the Senate/House reconciled budget, a budget Governor Hassan has now vetoed. HB 1, the numbers budget (appropriations) passed with a 196 to 161 vote, with 148 Democrats and 13 Republicans in opposition. HB 2, the legislation in support of HB 1, passed on a vote of 196 to 164, […]
Surprised not to hear a lot of noise
My husband and I and two friends from East Andover recently went to visit the wind farm in Lempster. Sincere thanks to the director, Ed Cherian, who gave up his Saturday afternoon to show us around and answer our questions. It was my first visit to a wind farm, and I did not know what […]
Renewable energy progress at risk
At their regular monthly meeting on May 7, members of the Andover Energy Group in attendance signed and sent the following letter to State Senator Andrew Hosmer. Dear Senator Hosmer: We are concerned about the budget proposed by the New Hampshire House of Representatives. Specifically, we are appalled by the attempt to divert $51 million […]