Balance is the buzzword on the New Hampshire Statehouse today, and never solely as a result of lawmakers will spend a lot of the subsequent 12 months crafting a state finances.
With the 400-member House virtually evenly divided, legislative leaders say 2023 gained’t be the 12 months for sweeping coverage modifications. Republicans maintain a minuscule 201-198 majority, with one seat vacant pending the end result of a particular election in February.
“Nothing controversial,” Deputy House Speaker Steven Smith mentioned when requested about largest points the Legislature will seemingly sort out. “If somebody’s putting in gun control bills, it’s not gonna happen. If they’re putting in abortion restrictions, not gonna happen.”
That doesn’t imply lawmakers gained’t throw laws towards the wall like spaghetti and see what sticks. They’ve already put in placeholder titles for greater than 800 proposed payments, together with laws on each side of the abortion debate. While Democrats plan to push for codifying abortion rights in state legislation, some Republicans wish to prohibit the process far past the present 24-week ban.
House Minority Leader Matt Wilhelm mentioned Democrats stand able to push again towards Republican extremism, together with anti-abortion laws and any effort to develop the state’s faculty voucher program.
“When it comes to working with the other side of the aisle, skeptically trust and constantly verify,” he mentioned when requested for his New Year’s decision.
But Wilhelm additionally mentioned he hopes lawmakers can discover frequent floor on kitchen desk points comparable to vitality prices, housing and youngster care that have an effect on each households and the enterprise neighborhood.
“If we’re going to be strategic in how we tackle the economic challenges that we’re going to face in the next decade, those really need to be central to the equation,” he mentioned.
At Wilhelm’s urging, House Speaker Sherman Packard has created particular committees to discover the latter two points, with every panel’s membership break up evenly between Republicans and Democrats.
Less evenly break up is the state Senate, the place Republicans maintained their 14-10 majority within the November elections. New Senate President Jeb Bradley mentioned he expects lawmakers to deal with making a finances that balances psychological well being, substance abuse remedy, youngster safety and different priorities with the necessity to maintain enterprise taxes low.
“A lot depends on us sort of threading that needle between making sure that we have a good, responsible budget and growing the economy so that we can continue to have surpluses,” he mentioned. “That’s all part of putting together a budget that meets the needs of the people, protects taxpayers and drives the economy.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”