NH Budget

The New Hampshire Legislature is scheduled to vote this week on a bill that cuts the Liquor Commission’s budget for the next fiscal year. The size of that cut, though, is far less than what’s called for under state statute.

Since 2015, there’s been a law in place that automatically reduces the Liquor Commission’s budgeted appropriation if the state-run liquor stores don’t generate a targeted amount of revenue for the general fund.

New Hampshire House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on a bill that would boost pay for state workers, end litigation with New Hampshire's hospitals, fix decaying bridges and fatten the state's rainy day fund.

And top lawmakers are confident the bill will win passage next week.

The $102 million dollar package pays for what negotiators considered musts: the new state employees contract and the Medicaid settlement.

But it also spends on a few pet initiatives, like recovery friendly workplaces. Governor Sununu wanted that one.

New Hampshire lawmakers are considering setting aside $38 million to address an ongoing dispute over payments to hospitals in a move that could put funding for other legislative priorities at risk.

Senate President Chuck Morse, R-Salem, is sponsoring an amendment to an unrelated related bill to put money from the state's general fund into escrow to cover potential payments resulting from a legal battle over how much state and federal governments must pay hospitals for uncompensated care.

Governor Chris Sununu has been busy over the past few days signing more than 30 bills into law including the state’s next two year budget.

The GOP-led legislature is sending Governor Chris Sununu a $11.7B dollar budget and a bill to fund full-day kindergarten via Keno.

The outcomes are big wins for a governor who hasn’t always gotten his way with the legislature.

After months of working on a new two-year state budget – the big moment has arrived. Lawmakers are scheduled to vote on the final version Thursday.

Governor Sununu says this year’s budget process has kept him busy meeting with Republicans, talking to lawmakers one-on-one, and trying to stick with the sales approach he’s learned works best.

House and Senate negotiators say they have a deal on a two-year state budget that spends less than the $11.8 billion plan passed by the Senate, which trimmed money from than the $11.9 billion proposal backed by House leaders that failed to win approval in April.

New Hampshire's legislative budget writers have until Thursday to reach agreement on a spending plan so the full House and Senate can vote next week. They have lots more work to do, but a decision that doesn’t involve money could shape the trajectory of this debate.

The start of budget negotiations between the Senate and House start Friday. That means we’re near the end of a months-long process that’s had some surprises this year.

Lawmakers sitting on the Committee of Conference, the one's charged with finalizing the budget, need to sign off on a final version by next Thursday.  

Senate and House budget writers will meet Friday to start negotiating a final version of the state’s next two year budget.

After more than ten hours of debate, the New Hampshire Senate Wednesday night passed a GOP-crafted state budget along party lines.

When Senate budget writers laid out details of the Republican-backed state spending proposal to lawmakers Tuesday afternoon, several Republican House members weren’t too impressed. 

The full New Hampshire Senate is scheduled to vote on the Finance Committee’s budget proposal Wednesday.

Senate budget writers will be pitching their version of the next state spending plan to lawmakers Tuesday morning at the Statehouse.

The full Senate are scheduled to vote on the budget Wednesday.

Republican leaders in the Senate are confident the body will pass a GOP-backed version of the state budget next week.

But how the process will unfold after that is different than usual this year.

After weeks of going through the numbers, the Senate Finance Committee has wrapped up its version of the state’s next two-year budget.

The proposal passed the committee with a 4 to 2 vote Wednesday, with Democrats against.

The Senate Ways and Means committee has adopted revenue figures for the next state budget.

The numbers are higher than the senate's earlier forecasts, but about $20 million shy of what Governor Sununu proposed.

In the context of a $12 billion dollar budget, a $20 million difference may seem small, but reaching agreement was a challenge.

The final vote added $53 million dollars to what the senate projected last week by bumping up estimates on businesses taxes, real estate transfers, and the tax on interests and dividends.

Budget writers in the New Hampshire Senate are predicting Medicaid caseload will drop over the next two years.  But underestimating caseloads in the program that benefits the poor helped cause the current state budget shortfall.

The University System of New Hampshire will likely not see an increase in state funding over the next two years.  That’s after Senate budget writers Tuesday voted to approve the recommendation of both the Governor and the House Finance Committee in keeping the system’s funding at current levels - $81 million a year. 

Senate budget writers Monday signed off on a few key spending areas in the state’s next two year budget proposal.