Republican Review | Volume 4 Issue 19 | April 12, 2019
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MESSAGE FROM THE REPUBLICAN LEADER DICK HINCH
House Republicans & Friends Across New Hampshire,
The next House session will be at the call of the chair.
For planning purposes, please save the date of Monday, April 29th at 10:00 a.m. in Representative’s Hall for an overview for legislators of the recently completed New Hampshire 10-Year Mental Health Plan.
Before I start talking about the Democrats’ reckless budget, I want to take a moment to thank the Republican Committee Members on Finance and Ways & Means for the countless hours and hard work they put into this process.
I’d also like to thank the entire Republican Caucus for standing united and saying NO to the outrageous increases in taxes and spending.
I regret to say that House Democrats passed their irresponsible budget on Thursday. From the beginning, it was clear House Democrats were dead-set on undoing the success of the previous two Republican budgets. Where do I start? Their budget creates over $400 million in new or increased taxes and fees. This includes a 0.5% income tax to fund their flawed family leave plan.. Even with this new tax, the plan is likely to be insolvent. Additionally, this plan is mandated, contrary to the Governor’s far superior voluntary proposal.
They also funded their biggest initiative using a brand new capital gains tax. If passing a new tax wasn’t bad enough, House Democrats inflated their revenue estimates by over 50% in just one month. This will undoubtedly leave New Hampshire taxpayers in a terrible situation in the future if revenue shortfalls need to be covered.
This budget irresponsibly increases Total Fund spending by over 13%, $1.5 billion across all funding sources. Even the areas funded by our state taxes see an increase of 13%. Believe it or not, their irresponsible spending didn’t stop there. The Governor wisely chose to spend one-time funds on one-time projects. What did House Democrats do? They deleted the Governor’s proposed projects, and instead chose to spend that money on expanding government. Once again, taxpayers will be on the hook to make up the difference.
All the best,
Dick Hinch, House Republican Leader
Click here to view the latest House Calendar
House Republicans Stand United Against House Democrats Reckless Budget
House Republican Leader Reacts to Passage of Democrats’ Budget Proposal Despite Bipartisan Opposition
CONCORD – House Republican Leader Dick Hinch (R-Merrimack) issued a statement following the passage of HB1 and HB2, bills relating to the state budget. As amended, the budget proposes to increase spending by 13% ($637 million in General and Education Fund spending, and over $1.5 billion in total funds) over the current operating budget, FY2018-2019, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Budget Assistant’s Office.
“This budget spends $9500 for every person in New Hampshire, which Republicans just don’t see as responsible or sustainable,” Rep. Hinch said. “Democrats want to call their plan tax relief, but they are still asking our citizens for more than $400 million in new and increased taxes. That’s contradictory and misleading.”
“This budget includes a laundry list of items that Republicans oppose, from an income tax-funded family leave plan, to a new tax on capital gains and higher business taxes, to growing the perpetual operation of government with one-time money. This spending spree is irresponsible and sets us up for failure, deficits, and higher taxes down the road. The governor had a spending plan that met and exceeded the needs of our state without asking for anymore of your tax money, and Democrats decided to completely disregard his guidance on that key principle.”
House Republican Leader Reacts to Democrats About-Face on ICAC Funding
CONCORD – House Republican Leader Dick Hinch (R-Merrimack) issued a statement following the House’s approval of an amendment to the Democrat state budget proposal that restores funding to the Internet Crimes Against Children fund, a program that Governor Sununu had funded, but was cut by House Democrats during the Finance committee process.
“Republicans had filed an amendment yesterday to be brought forward expecting the Democrats to hold firm on their position outlined by Rep. Lovejoy on Tuesday, where she insisted that no one told them it was a priority,” Hinch said. “As it turns out, the governor includes things he believes are a priority in his budget, and Democrats exhibited a real disconnect from reality on this issue. I’m glad they saw the light, and realized that with their new tax revenue and record spending, that they could find the $500,000 to fund ICAC’s needs.”
House Republican Press Conference Video
Click the link HERE to see video from our press conference regarding the House Democrats’ budget.
House Budget Comparison
Below you will find two picture prepared by the non-partisan Legislative Budget Assistant comparing the House Democrats’ budget to our current budget for FY2018-2019. In the first picture you will see that they spent an additional $1.5 billion, a 13.3% increase in Total Funds. The second page shows the House Democrats’ proposed General and Education/Trust/Restricted Funds budget compared to the current one. This shows an increase of $637,018,376, a 13.0% increase.
Deputy Republican Leader Sherm Packard on CloseUp
Click the link HERE to see Representative Sherm Packard on CloseUp discussing issues related to the budget.
2019 HOUSE DEADLINES
Thursday, May 2, 2019, noon Last day to report Senate Bills going to a second committee
Thursday, May 9, 2019 Last day to act on SBs going to a second committee
Thursday, May 30, 2019, noon Last day to report all remaining SBs, Last day to report list of retained SBs
Thursday, June 6, 2019 Last day to act on SBs
Thursday, June 13, 2019 Last day to form Committees of Conference
Thursday, June 20, 2019 Last day to sign Committee of Conference reports (4:00 p.m.)
Thursday, June 27, 2019 Last day to act on Committee of Conference reports
NH HOUSE STATS
Republicans: 167
Democrats: 233