Dan Gorenstein

House and Senate negotiators say a team of constitutional lawyers are reviewing a proposed amendment.

Earlier this session, the House and Senate both passed plans.

But the two bodies differed on the appropriate level of court oversight and the role local school districts have in establishing standards.

A high-ranking House member says those disagreements have been addressed.

Senate Majority leader Jeb Bradley says there’s a historic quality to the moment.

“We who have an obligation to put the question to the voters of how we are going to fund education. And that is much bigger than any of us, much bigger than our careers. This is the future of the state.”

The Senate has agreed with a House bill that critics say will make it harder to improve access for people with disabilities.

Under current state law, if someone successfully sues a building owner over ADA violations, they are awarded legal fees.

The new bill would leave the matter of fee reimbursement to court discretion.

Proponents of the measure say the move is an attempt to align state and federal law.

But Michael Skibbie with the New Hampshire Disabilities Rights Center see it as a move to limit ADA compliance lawsuits.

If this bill becomes law, he predicts it will wind up hurting business interests.

Lawmakers will look to come to terms on how to regulate groups that sell insurance to New Hampshire cities and towns.

Some are concerned the House-passed plan could be hard on taxpayers.

This legislation comes on the heels of a Secretary of State investigation into the practices of New Hampshire’s largest public risk pool the Local Government Center.

State regulators charge LGC has violated the law and owes its customers – cities and towns – some $60 million.

House and Senate lawmakers have each passed bills aimed, in part, at clarifying how money should be returned to communities when risk pools have a surplus.

Senate Majority leader Jeb Bradley says under the House version, municipal costs could vary month to month.

The New Hampshire Senate has killed half a dozen controversial measures supported by the House.

With little debate, Senators dispatched several hot-button issues that came up this session.

The measures were tied to completely unrelated bills.

Senators shot down a bill to require a 24 hour wait before an abortion could be performed, a 1 year moratorium on refugee resettlement in the state and a plan to weaken collective bargaining rights.

Senate President Peter Bragdon says on each of those measures the Senate had made its voice clear.

“I think the Senate generally felt that on issues related to business and taxes, distracting it with some of the social issues was not something the Senate wanted to revisit.”

The Health and Human Services Commissioner expects the state’s new Medicaid program to begin in December.

That’s 5 months later than planned.

The state had planned on launching its new Medicaid program on July 1st.

It will cost the Department a little more than $1 million dollars a month until the new system is in place.

But Health and Human Services Commissioner Nick Toumpas says he’s optimistic the new program will lead to long-term improvements, like changing the way health providers are paid.

“It’s exciting what the potential and what the opportunities are in that particular area for the long term.”

Toumpas says there are “a ton of things” that need to get done for the agency to begin by December.

Lawmakers are hopeful they can reach common ground on a education funding constitutional amendment.

Senators and House members want to limit the court's involvement in future funding plans.

Over the past year and a half the Senate and House have had differences when it comes to education funding amendments.

Both have passed proposals by the necessary 3/5ths majorities.

The House’s aims to all but eliminate court oversight and give local school districts greater authority to set standards.

Senate Republicans and Democratic Governor John Lynch say they want to preserve a role for the courts.

But now, with this legislative session almost over, lawmakers are making a final push to compromise.

The Senate has all but killed a measure that would have given landlords greater flexibility to evict tenants.

Bill opponents say the move preserves some equity between tenants and the property owners.

Originally the legislation would have allowed large-scale landlords the ability to evict a tenant when a lease expires.

Owners already can remove a tenant for any number of reasons, including rent hikes or personal business needs.

New Hampshire Legal Assistance attorney Elliott Berry says tenants are entitled to not be arbitrarily evicted.

“Eviction often means not only the loss of your particular apartment, but often you have to change your kids school district, sometimes you have to leave town. The ramifications are really, really significant.”

The state Senate has overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment to ban an income tax.

Lawmakers now must agree on the plan before it makes it to the ballot this fall.

Many Senate and House Republican leaders strongly favor prohibiting the state from collecting an income tax.

That’s why it’s likely the two sides will reach agreement on constitutional amendment language when they meet later this month.

Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley told his colleagues supporting this plan is noble and worthy.

“Our tax structure is critical to the New Hampshire that we know and love. And to the fact that as difficult as this Recession has been, has survived a very difficult economy.”

The state Senate has passed a plan that would give business a tax credit for donations to private and parochial schools.

The bill has strong legislative support.

In essence, this bill gives businesses incentives to support non-public schools.

Backers say wealthy people already have the resources to send their children wherever they want.

Sponsor Republican Senator Jim Forsythe says making more scholarship money available gives more families more choices.

“And so what this will do is this will extend the ability to choose a school down to those families. And whenever you have choice and you have options, you see better outcomes.”

Leading Democrats – including the governor – oppose the measure saying it strips money from the public schools.

The New Hampshire Senate is expected to take up legislation Wednesday to curb welfare fraud.

Some state Senators aren’t convinced there is a problem worth solving.

Under the House-passed plan, the state would expand screening of low-income families before they can receive cash benefits.

Supporters say cheating the system erodes public support for programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families – the state’s welfare program.

But given low rates of fraud, the Department of Health and Human Services says additional screening may cost more money than it would save.

Sarah Mattson, an attorney with New Hampshire Legal Assistance, says the Senate Finance Committee has crafted an amendment with that warning in mind.  

Earlier today, the Executive Council approved the largest contract in state history.

On a 3-2 vote, the Council approved a $2.3 billion deal to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program.

News Update at 2:54 p.m. Wed. May 9:  The Executive Council has passed a $2.3 billion contract that will overhaul the state’s Medicaid program. Medicaid Managed care could significantly shake up service for some 140,000 N.H. residents. HHS officials believe this reform is critical. More details to follow on this evening's All Things Considered.

A string of high profile hazing scandals had made the news recently.

Hazing is in the news again this week, and researchers say there might be more of it than there used to be. But New Hampshire Public Radio's Dan Gorenstein reports it is also getting more attention, and that could be a very good thing.