We learned that the biennial budget shenanigans with replacement budget bills are in progress. The Majority Party Democrats tried in vain to “suspend the rules” in order to introduce the budget replacement bills HB3 and HB4.
They were unable to attain a 2/3rds majority vote to make that happen because the Minority Party Republicans did not wish to allow this 800-page budget trainwreck to come before the House.
The fact is that this budget legislation was dumped on everyone the night before the session, had no public hearing or presentation, and was pretty much identical to the original Finance Committee offering.
Suspending the rules would have also caused majority votes on vetoed Senate bills for the day instead of the usual 2/3 majority vote. So it was a definite NO from the Republicans to allow these budget shenanigans to occur. It’s a good thing too! The Governor was not involved in this “new-alized” budget, nor did he give it his “blessing”.
Maybe some real budget negotiations will occur between now and the time we reconvene. One can only hope.
We learned that the Majority Party Democrat leadership erroneously said that any Representative could file an amendment to the replacement budget bill once the rules were suspended. The fact of the matter is that bill amendments have to be filed the day before any bill is considered by the House so that it can be printed and handed out for everyone to see and read.
Seeing as all but a few people actually saw the replacement budget bill in the first place, how would anyone in the House chamber even be able to formulate amendments to this 800-page document? Answer: we couldn’t. So they were either still woefully unaware of bill drafting procedure or some other shenanigans was afoot. One can only wonder.
We learned that the 23 Senate bills vetoed by the Governor were sustained in the Senate and 4 others were overridden. Those 4 Senate bills came to the House where 3 of them were sustained and 1 was overridden.
The overridden bill was SB88 regarding a change in the time to obtain therapeutic cannabis registration cards. That now becomes law. If you recall, the only other vetoed bill that was overridden by both chambers during this session was the repeal of the Death Penalty.
So of the 55 bills that have so far been vetoed, only 2 made it to the finish line via veto override.
It appears that some veto records have been broken this session. One can only be thankful that 53 awful bills, which would have increased fees and taxes, restricted freedoms, infringed on gun rights and would have hurt businesses and individuals in the Granite State, have been sent to the trash bin.
We learned that the enrollment process caught 2 bills which had problems with them, even after they were passed by both chambers and gone through the Committee of Conference process. One of those bills had to be re-voted on today. It will now go off to the Governor’s desk. It’s fate is uncertain. One can only hope that they at least got the language right this time.
We learned that it is very pleasant to have air conditioning in Reps Hall. Our version of “Climate Change” has certainly eliminated much of the prevailing hot air that we have had to deal with. One can only be happy that we are saving the ceiling and the historical paintings from environmental disaster.
Finally, we learned that party unity matters. Working together matters. The legislative process works because for ideas to become law it is a long arduous and time-consuming road to travel from start to finish. It is a good thing that we have so many opportunities to have input, make changes and vote on any particular bill. One can only rejoice in the wisdom of the people who put the process in place for our State. That process has, this week, prevented many bills that were bad for NH from becoming law.
Stay tuned: On September 25th, the House reconvenes to consider budget bills. Let’s see if a fiscally responsible and well-crafted budget can be produced between now and then as negotiations between Democrat Leadership and the Governor ensue. So far, Democrat leadership has been proposing a state budget that will place NH in financial jeopardy and the Republican Party and our Governor will have none of it.
