So Kids, What Did We Learn From This Week’s House Session (04/06/23)?
We learned that India and NH have good business relations. The Ambassador from India, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, was warmly welcomed to House chambers at the start of House Session, with members of the Senate in attendance. He spoke about the great work India is doing in many sectors of the economy and that NH is a great working partner with Indian run and Indian owned businesses.
We learned that after passing the committee amendment for HB2 (The Budget Trailer Bill) we took all morning to vote on 17 other amendments on that bill. A good amount of NH trees were used to make paper to print out all those amendments (plus more that did not come up for a vote) for 400 state reps to have in their seat pockets. Much time, taxpayer money, and effort was spent to print up so many pages that ultimately ended up in recycle bins at the end of the day.
We learned that of those 17 amendments, only 7 of them passed. The most important one was the bi-partisan deal struck by Majority Leader Osborne and Minority Leader Wilhelm (1336h) which included Emergency Power Reform language from HB127, made $15 million appropriation to the Affordable Housing Fund, removed some Education Funding Account language, added in the Ladd/Luneau education formula language, increased Medicaid provider rates, added $5 million to System of Care and $2 million for family resource centers. That amendment passed 326-63. We’ll see how all that fares in the Senate.
We learned that other amendments that passed were 1288h (247-Yes 139-No) to require law enforcement agencies provide public notice of immigration checkpoints, 1299h (241-Yes, 143-No) deleting a section of the budget bill relative to Northern Border Patrol program funding and appropriation (proponents claimed that should be paid for by the Feds), 1295h (249-Yes, 136-No) deleting a section of the budget bill that would have deleted the 16 person cap on the number of auxiliary state police forces. I understand we don’t want a police state, but if NH has an illegal immigration problem then we can look to these votes to see why.
We learned that 1292h passed (199-Yes, 187-No) that deleted the section in the budget bill that limited the retirement system eligibility for full time community college system employees to only those participating prior to January 1 2024. Those employees will be happy to learn that their retirement benefit will not change with this budget.NH taxpayers may not be as happy.
We learned that 2 other amendments both passed on voice votes having to do with a changes to civics education bill language (1272h) and the historic horse racing implementation date (1328h). Both made minor changes to bill language for bills that were already passed in the House.
We learned one of the amendments that did not pass was 1290h which would have eliminated the accelerated phase out of the Interest and Dividends tax (190-Yes,199-No). House Democrats are very upset that they couldn’t stop the retirement of this tax on old people and their investment savings.
We also learned that 1313h died (191-Yes, 197-No) that would have changed the language in the budget bill regarding how money is appropriated to the department of education from the education trust fund and the general fund and it changed the percentage of receipts coming to the trust fund from the Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise tax.
We also learned that 1273h, the amendment to legalize the possession and use of cannabis for persons 21 years and older did not pass as the House. It failed 160-Yes, 214-No. Rep. Verville (R-Deerfield) thought it was “high time” we passed this reform and send some green back to NH citizens. The House did not agree with this amendment but went on later in the day to pass HB639 with a roll call vote (OTP 272-Yes, 109-No). This bill legalizes, regulates, and taxes cannabis in NH. Rep. Spilsbury (R-Charlestown), speaking for the Ways and Means committee, said he did not want to get into the “weeds” of the bill but all aspects of dealing with legalization in NH was baked into this brownie. We’ll see what the Senate thinks of this brownie.
We learned that after all the presented floor amendments to HB2 were done, the House passed the budget bill with a voice vote, and so it was with HB1 as well. It was quite a palate cleanser to pass this bi-partisan House budget after all the amendments we considered. It was almost as if the Red Sea parted on this Passover day with the House budget now marching dry shod off to the Senate.
We learned that once our budget work was done, the remainder of the calendar could be tackled. We killed many of the bills that the House Democrats previously managed to pass. Remember when they held a momentary majority in the chamber and sent some bills off to Finance? Well, some of those came back and were killed today. HB234 – The one about renewable energy credits died by a slim 193-191. HB430 – which would have made kids attend public school for a year before being able to apply for Education Freedom Accounts – died by a slim 194-192. HB626 – requiring the Department of Education to administer Education Freedom Accounts – died 195-194. Today, House Republicans managed to successfully defend EFA’s from continued House Democrat assault.
We learned that HB250 passed 328-53. That bill increased accidental death benefits for Group II pension members. An amendment to the bill insured that with this change, no costs would not be passed down to the municipalities.
We learned that one bill today had full House support and that was HB337. That bill directed the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification to provide notice of public hearings and opportunity for public comment. That passed 387-0. Apparently everyone desires transparency from OPLC.
We learned that I was able to attend today’s House Session, despite it being Passover, because of changes in my family’s plans to celebrate at my home. I much appreciated Passover snacks being provided in the ante chamber of the House by members of the House. I wish everyone a healthy, happy, and joyous Holy week, no matter what you are celebrating!
