The week ahead: Committees start to finish 2025 agenda
Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, has led the call for the state to outlaw ownership of property near key military properties by a list of banned countries to include the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Iran, Syria and North Korea
In this shortened post-holiday week, the New Hampshire Legislature will refrain from holding business sessions to allow committees in the state Senate to wrap up work on a two-year state budget proposal. It will also give the House of Representatives time to finalize the thorniest bills sent to it from the other body.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, told his six colleagues to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend and come back ready to slog through four straight days of intense committee work.
'We've quite a few details to finalize but I've delegated key senators to resolve each of the remaining issues in dispute,' Gray said at the end of last week.
Reduction in layoffs
At the end of last week, Senate budget writers checked off an important box, restoring many of the nearly 100 layoffs in Department of Corrections contained in the House-approved state budget.
'I think we met a good middle ground,' Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, said during a radio interview Friday.
Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, credited now-resigned Corrections Commissioner Helen Hanks for working with him to make the most improvements to the House budget for the least amount of money.
The Senate changes reduce the $34 million in cuts the House made to about $20 million.
This reduces the layoffs to about two dozen with the elimination of about 35 other vacant positions.
'She was really cooperative and constructive in restoring nearly all of the affected positions for the least hit on the budget, which we appreciate,' Lang said in an interview.
Other big-ticket budget decisions the Senate panel needs to make include the amount of state aid for the university system, many programs in the Department of Health and Human Services along with the fate of the Office of Child Advocate, the Human Rights Commission, Housing Appeals Board and Board of Land and Tax Appeals.
Pitch to 'fix' ban on teaching bias
Gray said one change the Senate will make is to reject a House-proposed 5% fee on all dedicated funds to generate $30 million over the two-year cycle.
He announced plans instead to direct Gov. Kelly Ayotte to identify a similar amount of budget savings as a section in the Senate spending plan.
Several House committees will be holding long sessions to try and hammer out their final Senate bills to include:
Cordelli says he has way to fix ban on 'divine concepts'
Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, will ask a House panel he chairs to change a state law that bans the teaching of discrimination in public schools. The proposal is an attempt to fix a 2021 law a federal judge set aside because it was unconstitutionally vague.
• Risk pools (SB 297): Secretary of State David Scanlan proposed reforms to set up tougher financial guardrails for the pools that sponsor health or property and casualty insurance for member cities and towns, schools and county government. House Commerce Committee Chairman John Hunt, R-Rindge, has a competing proposal to permit the four companies offering these lines to instead come under regulation of the Insurance Department.
• Foreign ownership (SB 162): Birdsell has championed this one to prevent the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from acquiring property within 10 miles of an included list of state properties including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Pease Air National Guard Base, several other national guard sites and the New Boston Space Force Station.
• Moving state primary (SB 222): This would move the state primary election from one of the latest in the nation in September up to June when more than a third of states hold theirs.
The House Election Laws Committee will make the final recommendation on this one; they had endorsed the idea earlier this spring but wanted to put it off until after the 2026 election; as currently written the change would take effect next Jan. 1.
• Education Freedom Accounts (SB 295): The House Finance Committee holds on Wednesday the last committee vote on the Senate-passed plan to eliminate any income eligibility so all parents could receive taxpayer-paid scholarships to send their children to private, religious, alternative public or home school programs (SB 295).
• Ban on teaching discrimination (SB 100): Sen. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, will promote his amendment to alter the 2021 law aimed at blocking teachers from such 'divisive concepts' as Critical Race Theory. A federal court struck down the law as unconstitutionally vague and this seeks to add a mental state factor for the violating teacher that Cordelli maintains would fix the law's legal defect.
Opponents insisted the set aside law was beyond saving.
klandrigan@unionleader.com
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