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[Art.] 28. [Taxes, by Whom Levied.] No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duty, shall be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the people, or their representatives in the legislature, or authority derived from that body.

And it looks like those in the Legislature have decided that the State Board of Education has violated the Constitution’s mandate too often (else why would it exist?).  Reformatted, emphasis mine:

A bill intended to limit unfunded mandates in education and give school districts greater flexibility has special education advocates worried that major protections for students could be imperiled. As written, House Bill 620 would prohibit the State Board of Education from proposing any rule “that exceeds the minimum requirements of state or federal law.” The bill would affect all education rulemaking, but both the State Board and advocates said the biggest impacts would be in special education.

Hey, it’s all about The Rule of Law – or do these “advocates” don’t care about that?  After all, the Shade of Ian Underwood is ever present (with a pointed stick – heh!).  Not only that, but WHO should be making the Law?  Should it be the Executive Branch’s agencies?  Or should it be, well, Legislators?  Again, we look to the NH Constitution:

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OK, this has been hanging around in my “to do” list for a long time getting a bit moldy but it, once again, shows the proclivity of Treehugger to simply accept the mantra that Govt knows best – we should comply.  Add a touch of veganism (hey, it’s Treehugger) and you get this:

…If the U.S. government doesn’t know how to instruct its citizens in how to eat properly, then it’s reassuring to know that other countries have already figured it out. Sweden and Brazil have both published excellent (and understandable) dietary guidelines in recent years. Use those instead and see how you feel in five years, when the new guidelines are due for review. Maybe by then the U.S. guidelines will have gotten with the times.

I left this as a comment:

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If you REALLY wanted Government to get out from between you, your doctor, and your insurance plan, you’re gonna hate this. Once again, the Republicans are failing to get the job done; YOU LIE!

Alternative title: ‘What Good Is a Majority if You Aren’t Going to Use It?’

This is NOT either a Repeal or a Replacement – this is putting new sheet metal on a rusting 32 Ford – without fixing the powertrain or suspension.  End result is that it looks a bit prettier but doesn’t run much better.

Last night as I was going over the “Repeal and Replace” of Obamacare, I said that ” I am going to have to reference back to the original bill and see what the actual ramifications are” in terms of Medicaid Expansion by reading the original Obamacare bill.  Well, I guess I don’t have to as the Right side of the blogosphere is just chuck-a-block full of commentary and pointing what the Republicans (snark) did during the last 7 years while campaigning and screaming “WE’LL REPEAL IT” once we had a majority in the House, and then a majority in the Senate…..and then they needed the Oval Office.

And our reward for keeping the faith, putting their butts in those seats is THIS LOAD OF CRAPOLA??  They had SEVEN years to get it right – and now this is the equivalent of the dog catching the car bumper and these Smart Republicans of DC are going “crap, we gotta give them something, right?”  And the calls are ALREADY going out “YOU MUST SUPPORT THIS BILL“.   Yeah, well screw you because you all just screwed the rest of us.  Good decision, me leaving the Party – I don’t want to be associated with this stench no way and no how.

If had been done in the private sector, we’d be able to convict them all of a huge “bait and switch”.  This isn’t the Free Market solution we were promised.  This isn’t the killing of the massive amount of regulations.

This is a 

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OK, this is going to take a while and probably more than few posts. All emphasis and reformatting is mine.  First thought, though, it looks like the Republicans are going to spend more money and spend it this year.  Right off the bat (page 2, lines 4 – 9), right at the top of this act, and additional $422,000,000:

SEC. 102. COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER PROGRAM. Effective as if included in the enactment of the Medi-care Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Public Law 114–10, 129 Stat. 87), paragraph (1) of section 7221(a) of such Act is amended by inserting ‘‘, and an additional $422,000,000 for fiscal year 2017’’ after ‘‘2017’’.

Next part – DEFUNDING OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD! (Pages 2 – 6)

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Medicaid Expansion – NH State Rep Joe LaChance, NH State Senator Jeb Bradley, NH State Senator Chuck Morse, and former NH State Senator (and present NH GOP Chair) Jeannie Forrester and a whole raft of others are NOW going to have a LOT of ‘splaining to do in how NH is going to institute whole raft of new taxes to pay for NH’s Medicaid Expansion.  I WARNED y’all when you first took us down this path the first go round that this was gonna happen. So, are the Republicans NOW going to institute either a State income or sales tax???

Starting at page 5

SEC. 112. REPEAL OF MEDICAID EXPANSION.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1902(a)(10)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)(10)(A)) is amended—

(1) in clause (i)(VIII), by inserting ‘‘at the option of a State,’’ after ‘‘January 1, 2014,’’; and
(2) in clause (ii)(XX), by inserting ‘‘and ending December 31, 2019,’’ after ‘‘2014,’’.

(b) TERMINATION OF EFMAP FOR NEW ACA EXPANSION ENROLLEES.—Section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d) is amended—

(1) in subsection (y)(1), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘with respect to’’ and all that follows through ‘‘shall be’’ and inserting ‘‘with respect to amounts expended before January 1, 2020, by such State for medical assistance for newly eligible individuals described in subclause (VIII) of section 1902(a)(10)(A)(i) who are enrolled under the State plan (or a waiver of the plan) before such date and with respect to amounts expended after such date by such State for medical assistance for individuals described in such subclause who were enrolled under such plan (or waiver of such plan) as of December 31, 2019, and who do not have a break in eligibility for medical assistance under such State plan (or waiver) for more than one month after such date, shall be’’; and

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• Individual mandate – gone
• Tanning tax – gone
• Taxes on prescription drugs, over the counter meds, health insurance plans, net investment income – gone
• Taxes on medical devices – gone
• Increase of Medicare tax – repealed
• The “Cadillac tax” is gone – I think (update – nope, but delayed until 2025.  I bet this will turn into another “Doc fix” – constantly pushed out)
• Employer mandate – gone
• Health Savings Accounts – much more important, the increased tax on them rolled back (from 20% back to 15%).  Amount that can be contributed is raised from $2250
• Seriously – Politically Correct language in here – “GrandMOTHERED”???

a grandfathered health plan or a grandmothered health plan

‘(3) GRANDMOTHERED HEALTH PLAN.— 5‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘grandmothered health plan’ means health insurance coverage which is offered in the individual health insurance market as of January 1, 2013, and is permitted to be offered in such market after January 1, 2014, as a result of CCIIO guidance

• Abortions – getting rolled back but I need to study this a lot better as it appears in several places.  If you want it, get a covering plan but it is NOT mandated.

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Well, Boeing certainly made a decision:

PART OF THE GENERAL BLUE-TO-RED JOB MIGRATION: Boeing isn’t a story of jobs disappearing. They’re just moving to South Carolina. “So 1800 workers in Washington are finding themselves unemployed. At the same time, more than 3000 people in the Palmetto State have gone to work, begun training and started pumping new life into the economy. So why aren’t the two unions in Washington who are making this doleful announcement talking about that story? I’m just taking a shot in the dark here, but it might be because South Carolina is a right to work state and the union has already been roundly rejected by the workers there.” And the press won’t debunk them because that would step on an anti-Trump storyline.

And before the anti-job freedom folks (aka, unions) start in, the back story is this:

Nearly three-quarters of eligible production workers at Boeing’s South Carolina plant voted Wednesday not to join the International Association of Machinists in a major setback for organized labor. The Post & Courier newspaper reported that 2,097 of 2,828 voting workers — 74.2 percent — cast ballots against unionization.

While they wail about “race to the bottom” concerning wages,

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(Copyright 2017  KJ Park – see after the jump)

A humorous moment during the taking of the “family picture”:

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