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Political news for New Hampshire and beyond.
From cutting Medicaid rates by 3 percent to eliminating funds for family planning clinics, to suspending the farmers market program for poor women, infants and children the House Finance Committee voted to recommend a state budget for Health and Human Services Tuesday, reducing $290 million from the next two years of general fund distributions.
A measure that would prohibit language related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in all state contracts going forward passed without public hearing by House Republicans in the Finance Committee who pushed for reconsideration of a vote to defeat it after a Democrat left the meeting at the end of a long day.
It appears that cell phone use in schools is about to be limited or entirely curtailed in New Hampshire classrooms.
A new study by the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute finds business tax rate reductions have cost the state between $795 million and $1.17 billion in forgone revenue since 2015 without the often promised bump in revenue due to increased economic activity.
Cuts to spending that could lead to layoffs July 1 and include the elimination of all tourism promotion funding by the state as well as money for the Arts Council were explained to the entire House Finance Committee during a meeting Monday.
Andru Volinsky has documented the arguments that have shaped his public life in a new book that will go on sale April 1, “The Last Bake Sale, The Fight for Fair School Funding.”
Before the turn of the Century and even a little into this one New Hampshire’s motto was the same as it is today, Live Free or Die, but a slight tweak would better describe Granite Staters’ prevailing attitude as Live and Let Live.
Lost amid the flurry of proposed budget cuts coming out of Concord is a proposal to slash the Department of Corrections funding to levels considered unsafe by department administration.
For North Country towns facing a loss of revenue from the state’s timber tax due to a change in the way timber land owners can make money, the House passed a bill Thursday that would allow municipalities to collect a tax on standing wood and timber on land used for carbon sequestration.