Sununu issues two more Emergency Orders and another Executive Order extending the shutdown in advance of the Elections.
Emergency Order #71 – Temporary Suspension of Penalty for Failure to File Financial Report Pursuant to RSA 198:4-f
Sununu waives the statutory requirement for schools to make a timely annual report to the NH Commissioner of Education, detailing what funds are needed to meet their statutory requirements. State aid will no longer be withheld for failure to file this annual report in a timely manner. (October 27, 2020)
No worries. Sununu is letting schools operate without fiscal planning at the local level, and at the State level for that matter. Just keep the State funds flowing!
RSA 198:4 ESTIMATES. – The school board of each district in its annual report shall state in detail the additional sums of money, if any, which will be required during the ensuing fiscal year for the support of the public schools, for the purchase of textbooks, scholars’ supplies, flags and appurtenances, for the payment of the tuition of the pupils in the district in high schools, academies, and any nonsectarian private school approved as a school tuition program by the school board in accordance with law, and for the payment of all other statutory obligations of the district.
RSA 198:4-d Reports Required; Cities and School Districts. –
The governing body of each city and school district shall submit to the commissioner of the department of education the following reports pursuant to rules adopted under RSA 541-A by the commissioner of revenue administration which establish the form and content of such reports:
I. A report filed by the governing body of each city and school district shall certify the appropriations voted by the meeting of the appropriate legislative body, whether city council, mayor and council, or mayor and board of aldermen, or by each annual or special school district meeting, along with estimated revenues. This report shall be filed within 20 days of the close of the meeting.
II. A report filed by the governing body of each city and school district shall revise all the estimated revenues for the year. This report shall be filed by September 1 of each year. The revised estimates by school districts for the adequate education grants calculated under RSA 198:41 shall be considered the most accurate within 5 percent of the amount estimated pursuant to RSA 198:40-a.
III. A financial report for each city and school district shall be filed showing the summary of receipts and expenditures, according to uniform classifications, during the preceding fiscal year, and a balance sheet showing assets and liabilities at the close of the year. This report shall be submitted on or before September 1 of each year. Each statistical report submitted under this section shall include a certification signed by the chairperson of the school district’s governing body or the chairperson of the board of trustees of approved public academies that states: “I certify, under the pains and penalties of perjury, to the best of my knowledge and belief, that all of the information contained in this document is true, accurate and complete.”
III-a. The department of education and the department of revenue administration together shall develop and recommend school accounting standards. The departments shall report to the speaker of the house, the senate president, and the governor concerning such accounting standards on or before December 1, 1999.
IV. The budget committee in school districts operating under the municipal budget law shall file the budget within 20 days of the close of the annual or special meeting.
V. If a city or school district is audited by an independent public accountant, it shall submit a copy of the audited financial statements in accordance with RSA 21-J:19, III.
VI. If a city or school district is audited under RSA 671:5, the procedures in RSA 41:31-a through 41:31-d shall be followed.RSA 198:4-f PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO FILE REPORT. – A school district, city, or public academy shall file the report due under RSA 198:4-d, III no later than SEPTEMBER 1 of each year. For just cause, the commissioner of the department of education may grant a school district, city, or public academy up to a 30-day extension to this reporting deadline. The commissioner may further extend the deadline when unusual or unforeseen circumstances prevent a school district, city, or public academy from submitting the required report before the expiration of the extension provided in this section. The commissioner shall notify the governing body of the school district, city, or public academy that ALL STATE AID TO EDUCATION SHALL BE WITHHELD UNTIL COMPLETE AND ACCURATE INFORMATION IS SUBMITTED.
Pandering to the Teachers Unions and the rest of the education industrial complex by keeping State money flowing to the schools will help Sununu win re-election.
Accountability for State funds is no longer needed. The Legislature will be handicapped in their fiscal planning, but clearly, that’s not a priority for Sununu.
Just keep paying the school districts so their jobs will not be threatened due to any lack of State funding. A little corruption goes a long way for votes just before an election.
Emergency Order #72 Enhanced Contact Tracing in Restaurants
Looks like yet another Emergency Order! It will most likely be Emergency Order #72 signed on October 30, 2020.
Sununu rationalizes his over-reach:
“This process has worked well in other states across the country, including in most New England states. This kind of information is already collected for those making reservations, so we expect that both patrons and establishments will find the process to be a simple one.”
Simple indeed. We the People just approved a constitutional amendment reinforcing the importance of our right to PRIVACY. But hey, a little bit more surveillance is no biggy, it’s all in a good cause, right? Not to mention, it’s no biggy if restaurants lose customers who don’t want to be tracked and get that much closer to closing their doors.
Sununu’s clamping down on restaurants again to prove he’s serious about Covid. His immediate goal is to convince Independent and maybe even some Democrat voters that he takes Covid seriously. Pandering for votes again, but this time he also gets to move the needle just a bit further down the road to a 24/7 totalitarian surveillance state.
And, last but not least, don’t forget Sununu’s ELEVENTH Extension of State of Emergency (October 30, 2020).
Sununu extends his shut down for yet another 21 days, despite the fact that the curve was completely flattened months ago and the hospitals are empty.
