With the pandemic still surging, state lawmakers have had to figure out new ways to meet and vote, let alone how to vote on the substance of hundreds of bills -- addressing education funding, taxes, voting issues, energy and the environment, and more. Also on the agenda: crafting a new two-year budget. Last week, about 400 House members met in a UNH parking lot, voting from their cars to elect Rep. Sherman Packard, a Republican from Londonderry, Speaker of the House. The same day, In Washington D.C., a mob of pro-Trump extremists attacked the U.S. Capitol, leading to to the deaths of several people, including a Capitol police officer. In the aftermath, state capitols have been at heightened alert, including in Concord. We get a preview of what's likely to dominate discussion at the Statehouse in the upcoming months.
Air date: Monday, Jan. 11, 2021.
GUESTS:
Anna Brown - Director of Research and Analysis for Citizens Count, a non-partisan, non-profit organization promoting civic engagement. Read her recent preview of the upcoming legislative session here.
Ethan DeWitt - Statehouse and politics reporter for The Concord Monitor. Find his reporting here.
Annie Ropeik - NHPR reporter covering energy, environment, climate change, and the seacoast. She is also lead reporter NHPR's climate change reporting project By Degrees stories. Read her coverage here.
