Bow, NH – June 24, 2017 

Yesterday, the both the Senate and the House cast their final votes, and the long slog of the 2017 legislative session came to a merciful end.  It seemed over the past two months that whatever day the House met in session, it was a beautiful day, often the only one in the entire week (remember all the chilly weather?), thereby condemning members to sit and sweat in Reps Hall.  Keep in mind, there is no air conditioning there, and on a warm day with over 400 people crammed in the room, the ceiling fans just cannot keep up.  Yesterday was no exception.

The work of the House and Senate yesterday was confined to voting on Committee of Conference reports where Senate and House conferees had come to agreement upon how to reconcile each chamber’s different version of a piece of legislation.  In this process, no further amendments are permitted, and the vote is to simply concur or non-concur with each piece of remaining legislation as designed by the conferees.  There was still debate, but business moved along briskly, enough so that we all were able to leave and enjoy much of the sunny afternoon.

The 2017 legislative session is nearly completed, with one more scheduled meeting this coming Thursday, June 22, when the House and Senate will each vote on Committee of Conference reports.  These reports concern bills where the House and Senate differed over amendments, appointed a committee to try to iron out the disagreements, and the Committee came to a resolution.  The resulting bills can now only be voted up or down, no further amendments.  

Bow, NH – June 9, 2017 

Slowly, ever slowly, the 2017 legislative session crawls towards its June 22 conclusion.  Yesterday, the House and Senate both met in session, though for the House, it was certainly the shortest meeting of 2017, not even lasting one hour.  The primary, in fact the only order of business, was to consider reports from the Senate.  These are when the Senate has amended a bill that originated in and passed the House, and now it gets sent back to the House for further consideration.  The choices are simple.  First, the House can concur/accept the Senate’s amendment, meaning the bill is now passed and sent to the governor.  The second choice is to simply non-concur/reject the Senate’s amendment and thereby kill the bill.  The third option is to request a Committee of Conference, wherein the House and Senate each appoint conferees who meet and try to reach agreement on the bill.  All Committees of Conference must finish their work by June 15, and then the House and Senate will vote on June 22 to accept or reject those Conference reports where agreement was reached.  And that, folks, should be the end of the session, until the legislative process starts to wind up again in September.  

Bow, NH – June 2, 2017 

Thursday, June 1, was a gorgeous day, easily the best weather we have had here in NH for some time.  Clear skies by afternoon, warming temperatures, and no rain!  In Representatives Hall in the NH State House, however, it proved to be a much drearier and depressing day, although not terribly surprising.  On the final day to act on Senate bills, the Republican majority flexed their muscle and demonstrated anew that elections matter.  Remember this, when your friends and co-workers tell you next year they are not bothering to vote because “it just doesn’t matter.”  It does, and yesterday’s votes in the House prove it.

This will be a very brief bulletin since neither the Senate or House were in session this past week.  Having said that, there was activity.

The Senate has now crafted and released its proposed State budget for the 2017-19 biennium.  In an effort to win over some of the extreme right-wing Republicans whose votes scuttled the House version of the budget, Senate Republicans on the Finance Committee adopted very conservative revenue estimates as a means of justifying leaving many programs and initiatives unfunded or underfunded.  Full funding of all-day kindergarten has been removed from the budget, and funding for battling the opioid crisis remains inadequate.  Yet despite the supposed financial stringencies, the majority in the Senate have found monies to pay for a spokesperson for the Dept. of Education at an annual $83,500 salary (to speak at the behest of Commissioner Edelblut) and also to increase the funding for charter schools (as opposed to the traditional public schools which the vast majority of NH students attend). 

Bow, NH - May 18, 2017 

The NH House met briefly yesterday, primarily to pass an emergency bridge appropriation to keep the Dept. of Health and Human Services functioning until the end of the budget year on June 30.  While there was the usual vocal opposition from those who oppose virtually any governmental spending, the bill passed easily. 

Action Needed     So, many important votes lie ahead.  Please contact your House Representative and ask her/him to oppose SB 3 (voter suppression), SB 8 (the Edelblut/Croydon bill) and to fully fund full-day kindergarten.  And, while doing so, keep your eyes and ears open, as we await the Senate’s version of the 2017-2019 NH State budget.