Lots of Stuff Coming Up In the Legislature in New Hampshire

By Jim on December 27th, 2008

Brace yourselves, folks. The legislature has a LOT of stuff coming up in the new year:

School Funding
Gay Marriage
Abortion
Renewable Power
Assisted Suicide
Text Mesage Bans
Income Taxes
Death Penalty

That’s just some of what they’ll be considering. Ugh. This is going to be another hellish session of socialist legislation being proposed right and left. Keep your fingers crossed and be ready to venture to Concord to lobby against all of the bad stuff that comes up.

I really, really wish the legislature only met once every two years. There is no need for them to meet every year. Each time they do it puts the public liberty at risk more and more. The less they do, the better. And the less often they convene the better off our state will be.

Edit: And the budget will also be a top priority for NH lawmakers:

Since February, Lynch and lawmakers have cut spending, raised the cigarette tax, enacted a new tax on poker games and approved borrowing state school aid to deal with declining revenues in the budget that ends on June 30. So far, they’ve closed $150 million of a projected $250 million revenue gap — adjustments totaling roughly 5 percent of the $3.2 billion in spending from general tax sources in the two-year budget. The total budget is $10.3 billion when spending from federal and other sources is included.

In November, Lynch proposed $20 million in state budget cuts that require legislative action. They include deferring a 5.5 percent pay increase due non-union state workers on Jan. 2, though Lynch said he hoped to persuade union workers to defer raises, too. Lynch could not win support from the 15,000 union-covered workers to give up their increase, so lawmakers balked at deferring the raise for the 5,000 non-union workers.

The union says the state should seek other solutions, such as using fewer consultants and contractors or moving to a four-day work week.

Lynch has taken general income or sales taxes off the table, though die-hard income tax supporters are filing bills anyway.

Lynch also isn’t counting on Congress to bail out New Hampshire with one-time money in a stimulus package, though Congress has helped states weather past recessions.

Lynch’s anti-tax position has encouraged proponents of expanding gambling to push everything from a racino — a race track with video slot machines — at Rockingham Park race track, to state-owned casinos.

But Lynch has said repeatedly he won’t support expanded gambling unless proponents prove it would not harm the state’s quality of life.