Above, speaking on a panel for the media were Kevin Landrigan of the NH Union Leader, Annmarie Timmins of New Hampshire Public Radio and Paula Tracy of InDepthNH.org with moderator Kate Horgan. Courtesy photo

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org

CONCORD – It’s not going to be “puppies and rainbows” in the House of Representatives next year as Republicans and Democrats work through a budget in 2025, two re-elected legislators agreed, as they addressed what the future might look like as part of a Post Election Brief, sponsored by the Dupont Group Friday.

From housing solutions to childcare to crafting a new state budget, state Rep. Joseph Alexander Jr., R-Goffstown, and state Rep. Alexis Simpson, D-Exeter, served on a panel after being re-elected Tuesday.

A record voter turnout brought a new breakdown in the House of 222 Republicans and 178 Democrats before recounts. This will be a change from the almost evenly divided lower chamber.

Each new, two-year legislative session begins with crafting a new biennial budget. 

The two spoke to an audience of clients and elected leaders including those in the energy industry and municipal and county government among others and fielded questions from them.

The breakfast event was held at the Hotel Concord and also included a panel of journalists who also predicted what the legislative future holds, including Annmarie Timmins of New Hampshire Public Radio, Kevin Landrigan of the New Hampshire Union Leader and Paula Tracy from InDepthNH.org.

The Dupont Group is a government relations consulting group which has an extensive portfolio of clients interested in what goes on beneath the gold dome. Moderating the discussion was the Dupont Group’s Jim Monahan.

“We have some pretty big things we have to address before we even get off the ground with the budget,” said Simpson. “We know we are going to have millions and millions and millions of dollars for the YDC settlement case that we have to be budgeting for first of all, we have to think about education funding, we also have to consider the fact we won’t have any more ARPA funds coming…So we are going to feel some dramatic shifts in income and revenue for the state. Hopefully the numbers from September that have come back in terms of the business taxes are not indicative of the future, they were lower than we had hoped. So we will have to keep a close eye on what the revenue is that is coming in, because there are essential needs we focus on in our budget and we have to cover those as a state in order to allow our people to be healthy and thrive and we don’t want Granite Staters to suffer. So the budget fight might not be as pretty as it was last time,” she said. “I think we will work together, I just think it might not be puppies and rainbows.”

Alexander said he does not have a crystal ball but “I think that Republicans are going to continue to cut taxes, I think we are going to continue to cut spending. I think that we are going to find areas of the budget that we can reduce our spending so we can meet the revenue that we are currently collecting. I think Rep. Simpson is right, I think it might not be a pretty ‘puppies and rainbows’ but we will figure it out.”

The two agreed on a number of issues.

Alexander is interested in reducing regulation including that on childcare providers.

Simpson said she would be willing to look at that but said she did not want to “sacrifice child safety at all” in the process.

Both Simpson and Alexander supported adult legalization of cannabis sales in the state but the bill did not pass the Senate. 

Incoming Governor-elect Kelly Ayotte has said during her campaign she opposes such passage.

Simpson said constituents want cannabis legislation to be passed and last year’s effort was bipartisan. The legislation also would have brought in millions in revenue to the state which is currently going out of state with New Hampshire residents buying it in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.

Simpson said just because it is not a priority of the incoming governor right now does not mean that it can’t change.

Alexander said he personally evolved on the issue as he voted against it in the past but supported it this past round. 

“I think the disagreement amongst Republicans is really around the tax revenue because I think some Republicans want no taxes…and then there are Republicans who lean more with (current Gov. Chris Sununu) maybe have some sort of regulations around it…I don’t anticipate it is going to be one of Governor Ayotte’s largest priorities to legalize cannabis but you know, she might want to come to the table and if she doesn’t want to come to the table then we will have to have a separate conversation about that.”

Both legislators said they do see a number of measures that will get both sides of the aisle to find common ground.

“As Democrats, we are going to be looking at places where we can work together without compromising our values,” Simpson said.

Alexander said he would not be supporting any changes to the abortion law, in line with Ayotte’s stated position and Simpson said she is going to “take her at her word.”

If there are abortion bills that pass, Simpson said she was “grateful that we have enough of a minority that the Republicans could not override a veto with Democrats, so if she vetoes, we will be in good shape.”

He said he did not think any bill on changing the abortion law would get to her desk.