Front Door Politics is a jargon-free weekly legislative update for all citizens affected by New Hampshire laws. Find more at www.frontdoorpolitics.com.

new House committees created: With the new legislative session set to begin in three weeks, Republican House Speaker William O’Brien has released the names of standing committee leadership positions and also made changes in the structure of the committee system.
The moves O’Brien made include eliminating the Local & Regulated Revenues Committee, creating two divisions each for the Judiciary and Commerce & Consumer Affairs committees, and creating two new committees to handle constitutional review and petitions for redress of grievances.
“Given the large volume of bills that are heard each session in Judiciary, as well as the committee on Commerce and Consumer Affairs, I felt it important that we create these divisions in order to give proper and due diligence to the legislation being sent to those committees,” O’Brien said. When lawmakers begin the 2011 session on Jan. 5, the committees will start considering more than 900 bills that have been filed by House and Senate lawmakers.
The two divisions created in Commerce and Consumer Affairs are: Insurance & Consumer Regulations, and Banking & Business Regulations. Rep. John Hunt of Rindge will once again chair the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee, with Rep. Jenn Coffey of Andover as vice chair. O’Brien said he will soon name the leaders for the two new divisions of the Consumer and Commerce Affairs.
The Judiciary committee, chaired by Rep. Robert Rowe of Amherst, will also have two divisions:  Judicial Administration, which Rowe will chair, and Judicial Policy, chaired by Rep. Gregory Sorg of Easton, who also was named Judiciary Committee vice chair.
The two new committees are: the Committee on Petitions for Redress of Grievances, to be chaired by Rep. Paul Ingbretson of Pike with Rep. Robert Willette of Milford as vice chair; and the Committee on Constitutional Review and Statutory Recodification, chaired by Rep. Daniel Itse of Fremont, with Rep. John Cebrowski of Bedford as vice chair.
“We made every attempt to put the most qualified people into these leadership positions, based on their expertise,” O’Brien said. “I am pleased with the mixture of both veteran lawmakers, including some former chairs and vice chairs, and those who are relative newcomers to leadership.” —Michael McCord

Senate committees announced: Assignments also have been made by the new Republican Senate President Peter Bragdon of Milford and Democratic Senate Minority Leader Sylvia Larson of Concord.
There are Republican chairs and vice chairs on every committee except one—Democratic Sen. Matthew Houde of Plainfield will chair the Judiciary Committee. With a 19-5 Republican majority in the Senate, only one Democratic member will serve on each committee.
The committees to keep an eye on, especially when it comes to down-to-the-wire budget decisions, will be Finance (which creates the Senate version of the budget) and Ways and Means (which will determine the amount and types of revenues for the budget). Sen. Chuck Morse (R-Salem) will be the Finance chair and serve on Ways and Means while Sen. Bob Odell (R-Lempster) will chair Ways and Means and serve as vice chair on Finance.
We’ll see three freshman chairs this session. Sen. Nancy Stiles (R-Hampton) will chair the Education Committee, having served on the House Education Committee during her three terms in the House. Sen. James Rausch (R-Derry) will serve as chair of the Transportation committee, having served on the House Public Works and Highways committee during his five terms in the House. Sen. David Boutin (R-Hooksett), who won his first full term in November (he won a special election in February), will chair the Capital Budget committee, having served on the House Ways and Means committee during his one term in the House.
The Senate returns to session on Jan. 5. With the budget on everyone’s mind, Bradgon said last week that he will reduce the Senate’s own budget.
“We must lead by example. Paring back state spending means starting with our own budget,” he said. “One of my first acts as Senate President was to reduce the pay of our chief of staff by 30 percent. I recognize the need to reduce Senate staff and find other cuts and efficiencies. We are actively engaged in that process.” —Michael McCord

House Business Coalition forming: With business clearly on their minds, a group of lawmakers has founded the New Hampshire House Business Coalition. The group was formed by Reps. Laurie Sanborn (R-Loudon), Thomas Keane (R-Bow), House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt of Salem, and others.
“We want to provide a vehicle for representatives highly interested in promoting employment opportunities through the strength of our business community and economy,” said Sanborn, a freshmen representative serving as chair and organizer of the coalition. “Our vision is to make New Hampshire the best state in the nation in which to do business again.”
Sanborn’s husband Andy is also starting his first term at the State House this fall, in the Senate. The two are restaurant owners themselves, and they’re also active in automotive manufacturing, real estate and financial consulting.
The coalition members say their group is the next step in delivering on their campaign promises of focusing on job creation and expanding New Hampshire’s economic base—and that to be pro-jobs means being pro-business.
“We believe that by supporting the business community with responsible legislation, we are also promoting job creation and an expansion of our economic base in New Hampshire,” Sanborn said in a press statement.
So far, the House Business Coalition has a distinctive Republican makeup. Other members who have signed up include Kenneth Kreis Sr. (R-Canterbury), Cameron DeJong (R-Manchester), Mark Lindsey (R-Henniker), Steve Winter (R-Newbury), Brian Murphy (R-Rye), Keith Murphy (R-Bedford), Beverly Rodeschin (R-Newport), Molly Smith (R-Hooksett), Daniel Tamburello (R-Londonderry), Kathy Lauer-Rago (R-Franklin), Glenn Ritter (R-Kensington) and Kevin Avard (R-Nashua).
The coalition will likely be hearing from the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association, which released its policy priority list for the 2011 legislative session earlier this week. It’s a lengthy and detailed agenda that covers a wide range of issues pertaining to economic growth, education, energy, business taxes, and “ending further cost-shifting to the business community from the Medicaid program.”
“The focus is on jobs and the budget,” said Jim Roche, president of the Business and Industry Association, which is the state’s largest and most powerful business advocacy organization. “Even though we’re technically out of recession, business is still sluggish and owners and managers are slow to hire. Add to that a looming state budget deficit and it is easy to see why business owners feel the focus needs to be on job creation, economic growth and passing a fiscally responsible budget that avoids putting additional pressure on business.”
To date, at least 24 business-related bills are on the docket for the next legislative session. At this time, only bill titles are available; the full text of all proposed legislation—expected to be about 1,200 bills—will become available and be assigned to committees next month.
The House Business Coalition intends to meet weekly and make recommendations on bills presented to the House on session day. Members say they’ll support legislation that promotes job creation “through strong, responsible business growth and success, and the reestablishment of the New Hampshire Advantage.”
That advantage means somewhat different things to different people, but generally refers to a low tax base achieved through low state spending.
“We believe that you cannot be pro-jobs unless you are pro-business. It’s time to determine where excessive rules and regulations are hurting our New Hampshire business community,” said vice chair Keane.
At least 30 other House members reportedly have signed onto the coalition so far. —Michael McCord, with contributions from Hilary Niles