Final State Budget Approval Approaching
Contact the Senate Finance Committee
Work on all bills is approaching the final round in Concord. All committee hearings and executive sessions (except for Senate Finance which we will get to in a minute) are now complete. There will be votes on the remaining bills by the full House and Senate next week and then they will set Committee of Conferences to meet starting on the 16th to see if they can work out their differences on bills that either chamber has amended. While we are close to the end, we still have a lot of unanswered questions, mostly due to the budget still being worked on.
The biggest outstanding work this year for the legislature is the budget. While the Senate has more revenue projected than the House, we are still feeling the pinch of the years of tax cuts for multi-national corporations and the ultra-wealthy. This budget continues with more of the same, from instituting a Medicaid- income tax for hard working Granite Staters, to no additional support for affordable housing or childcare all while expanding the irresponsible, unreasonable and unproven school voucher program, so that ultra-wealthy families can get a tax break a subsidy. It also continues the underfunding of our local neighborhood public schools and does nothing to help us all with our rising property tax bills. The Senate Finance Committee will finish its work on its budget proposal on Tuesday and the full Senate will vote on the budget on Thursday. While most Committees of Conference will start on the 16th expect the budget Committee of Conference to start earlier as there is more work to do.
Action Needed!
Contact Senate Finance and tell them this budget should prioritize all our public schools and the majority of our students who are in them and they should reject voucher expansion and fix this budget.
The last couple of weeks we have talked about the book ban that is on its way to the Governor. This is the first time a book ban has passed both bodies of the legislature. This is a shameful action. New Hampshire students deserve better than book bans. They deserve a robust public education complete with protection of their constitutional right to access a wide variety of materials in their school libraries. The bill is unconstitutionally vague, and besides just banning books it criminalizes teachers and administrators for protecting students’ first amendment rights.
If you have not contacted the Governor yet—do so now!
Contact Kelly Ayotte and tell her book bans are WRONG for New Hampshire.
We know it has been a disheartening legislative session but we appreciate your activism and continuing to have your voice heard. It matters. Thank you.
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