Today the New Hampshire legislature passed the State Budget. The Budget trailer bill, which always includes a bunch of non-budgetary wish-list stuff, included state of emergency reform that adds oversight to executive authority.
During the pandemic, existing law allowed the Governor the authority to renew the state of emergency repeatedly, even if or when some thought it was time to end it. There was no mechanism to check the Governor’s power.
The new legislation allows the Governor to declare a state of emergency and renew it twice, but extending it beyond that will require a full vote of the legislature in support. And this is New Hampshire, so that’s no small challenge for a Governor to overcome.
He or she will need to convince them of the necessity. If controlled by the same party, the Senate is typically a rubber stamp for the Governor’s priorities. Not on every issue, but they seem to be more interested in protecting his or her priorities. The New Hampshire House has 400 members, and it can be a bit of a circus—a genuine people’s legislature. The Governor will need to convince most of them to renew any extension, not just for the next 21 days but for every 21 days after.
We commend all the hard work put in by activists like the folks at Rebuild New Hampshire and those in House leadership (in particular) who pushed for this after the State Senate pulled State of Emergency Reform out of the budget but then voted for it after it was put back in.
And yes, Governor Sununu is expected to sign the budget.
