state budget

The money at issue comes from legal settlements with companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis.

The proposal passed by the NH House last week includes cuts to Medicaid and other health programs. The budget now in the hands of the Senate.

New Hampshire's Child Advocate Cassandra Sanchez spoke about the office's annual report and its role moving forward as it faces defunding from state lawmakers.

The House’s budget now goes to the state Senate, which will spend weeks reviewing — and likely rewriting — the spending proposal.

The proposed changes reflect the growing role gambling revenue has come to play in balancing the state’s books in recent years.

The budget plan significantly cuts spending from Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s proposal, as lawmakers eye low revenues from New Hampshire business taxes.

The prohibition would cover programs that classify people by race, gender, ethnicity and “other group characteristics for the purpose of achieving demographic outcomes.”

If the legislators’ proposed reduction holds, the USNH would be receiving $28.8 million less annually in the coming two years.

A House budget panel is recommending lawmakers cut $840,000 in annual funding that currently provides no-cost contraception, STI testing and other reproductive and sexual health care for more than 2,000 people.

In her budget address to lawmakers, Ayotte proposed cutting state spending by $150 million or roughly 3%, a reduction she said was undertaken “with a scalpel, not a shovel.”