take your seats

The committees are made, bills introduced and seats assigned. The N.H. House and Senate took their formal start for 2009 on Wednesday, Jan. 7, one day before Gov. John Lynch’s inauguration. There’s no time to waste, as public hearings start next week on the nearly 1,000 bills up for debate this session. A slew of organizational and informational meetings started up last week, many of which involved the state agencies within each committee’s sector.

better, but worse first

The Senate Finance and Ways & Means committees met Wednesday for a budget presentation by the Center for Public Policy Studies, a Concord-based private sector think tank. The short version of the Center’s message: things are going to get better, but they’re going to get worse first.

Center director Steve Norton connected the state’s thin wallet to unemployment, a high rate of property foreclosures and the low value of housing, among many other factors. The predicted $500 million shortfall for the 2010-11 budget cycle will follow a budget that’s already trimmed close to the bone. That means “significant program impact” will probably be unavoidable, according to the report, and it’s going to take big policy changes to get back in the black.

That could mean reinstituting time off for good behavior in the state prison system, limiting who is eligible for Medicaid or lowering the state’s contribution to retirement savings for non-state employees (such as teachers, police and firemen). But, as the center’s deputy director Dennis Delay put it, “Saying that you can change rules that will save money is not the end of it. The cities and towns will have something to say … possibly in courts.”

Norton stressed that in order to control spending in the next biennium, the Legislature will have to start planning now. Lynch will present his proposed budget to the Legislature in February. 

upcoming public  hearings:

House committees are scheduled to hear a total of 55 bills next week, while the Senate is looking at 12. Following is a short selection of bill titles with their sponsors, hearing dates, assigned committees and analysis.

• “establishing a commission to evaluate mental health courts and establish standards for the operation of mental health courts.”

• HB 171, Cindy Rosenwald (D-Nashua)

• Tuesday, Jan. 13, House Judiciary Committee

Mental health courts were established in New Hampshire in 2005 as a pilot program in Keene and have since grown to operate in Nashua, Rochester and Portsmouth. A prime goal of the courts is to improve access to community-based mental health treatment programs for nonviolent criminal offenders, with the hope of reducing recidivism rates and improving public safety.

This 10-person commission would consist of two House members, one state senator, a designee from the Department of Health and Human Services, a district court judge, a prosecutor from a county attorney’s office, an attorney from N.H. Public Defenders, a representative of the Disabilities Rights Center, the chief executive of a community mental health center and a representative of the N.H. division of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The act would become effective upon passage, requiring an interim report by Nov. 1, 2009, and a final report one year later.

• “relative to increasing the dollar limit for requiring public hearings on issuance of local bonds.”
• HB71, Betsey L. Patten (R-Moultonborough)
• Wednesday, Jan. 14, House Municipal and County Government Committee

This bill raises by 10 fold (from $100,000 to $1 million) the minimum dollar value of proposed municipal bonds or notes that require a public hearing. 

Current rules require that public hearings on any such proposal be held between 15 and 60 days before the matter is voted on and notice of the time, place and subject of the public hearing must be published at least one week in advance. These specifics would remain in place.

This bill would change only the dollar amount that triggers the public hearing requirement.

This act would take effect 60 days after its passage.

• “requiring young women under 15 years of age to provide proof of counseling prior to obtaining an abortion.”
• HB62, Anthony R. DiFruscia (R-Windham)
• Thursday, Jan. 15, House Judiciary Committee

According to the text of this bill, proof of counseling would be a document signed and dated by the young woman and her counselor that would then be sealed or notarized at least 48 hours before being submitted. The counselor in question could be a parent, adult sibling, adult aunt or uncle, grandparent or certified religious counselor; a person associated with a licensed abortion provider would not be eligible.
If it is passed, the act would take effect within 60 days.

Front Door Politics is a weekly legislative update for everyone affected by N.H. laws. An online learning center including a glossary of legislative terms, a list of all 2009 bills, and a free blog and podcast subscription are available at www.frontdoorpolitics.com.