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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Hampshire Senate moves to restore panels wiped out by House, with some changes
Sens. Regina Birdsell, Tim Lang, and Cindy Rosenwald sit at a Senate Finance Committee session, May 29, 2025. (Photo by Will Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin) In April, the New Hampshire House passed a budget that eliminated a number of state boards, including the Commission for Human Rights, the Housing Appeals Board, the Commission on Aging, and the State Council on the Arts. This month, Senate Republicans are moving to save those entities. But each could look slightly different moving forward. In a series of votes, the Senate Finance Committee gave initial approval to amendments that would reverse the cuts — with conditions. Those amendments must be approved by the committee again next week, and then by the full Senate on June 5. Here's what the Senate has proposed. The House budget had eliminated the Arts Division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, including the New Hampshire Council on the Arts. That division had received about $1.7 million in state funding, and $2 million in federal funding. The Senate's proposed amendment, passed Thursday, would restore the division, but change how it is funded. Rather than receiving general fund dollars, businesses could donate to the Granite Patron of the Arts Fund, and receive 50% of that donation as a credit against the business profits tax. The tax credit could give out a maximum of $350,000 a year, which would translate to a maximum potential budget of $1.4 million over two years for the arts fund. The amendment is a shift in approach for Sen. Tim Lang, a Sanbornton Republican, who earlier proposed reducing funding for the Arts Division to $1. 'My inbox was filled when I allocated $1 for the Council on the Arts, and I took that to heart and I made changes,' he said. 'This will allow for a tax break system — it will still allow them to collect donations, but make it more incentivized by allowing those corporate donations or private donations.' Democratic Sen. David Watters, of Dover, called the compromise 'very helpful.' 'I think that making sure … that we have the core operations covered, so that there can be somebody who actually goes out and tries to sell these tax credits, that is good, and I think that will keep the office functioning,' he said. The Senate restored funding to the Housing Appeals Board, which is designed to give developers and residents an alternative to the state court system to resolve conflicts with local zoning and planning boards. The House had cut that panel entirely, which costs $560,864 over two years. But Senate Finance Chairman James Gray said the committee would recommend eliminating a position within that board, and would attach the board to the state's Board of Tax and Land Appeals, which handles disputes over state and local taxes as well as property assessments. Gray said the attachment was designed to save on personnel costs to run both boards. The Senate Finance Committee recommended reviving the Commission for Human Rights, a panel designed to investigate discrimination complaints and pass them on to the Attorney General's Office for potential prosecution under state anti-discrimination statutes. The House had abolished the commission, but the Senate restored it, at a cost of $2.7 million over two years. But another Senate amendment would require the Department of Justice's civil rights unit to oversee the commission. The amendment would also mandate that the chairperson of the commission be a licensed attorney in the state. The committee also proposed restoring funding to the State Commission on Aging, at $150,000 per year. Currently, that is funded at $280,432 per year; the House had voted to eliminate the commission. The commission, established in 2019, is charged with making recommendations on how the state can support older residents and increase the health care workforce for direct care. The votes this week came as the Finance Committee decided to follow a rosier outlook for revenues the next two years. On Wednesday, Lang, who is also the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said Department of Revenue Administration Commissioner Lindsey Stepp had recommended new projections for the state's business profits tax, meals and rooms tax, and real estate transfer tax. The new projections would increase business tax revenues by $75 million over the biennium; the meals and rooms tax by $27.8 million; and the real estate transfer tax by $5 million. Lang cited analyses from Morningstar and Kiplinger, two research firms, that suggested New Hampshire could benefit from uncertain economic conditions by attracting people seeking to save money or take local vacations. Sen. Dan Innis, a Bradford Republican, backed up Lang's analysis, arguing he believes revenues will come in even stronger than Lang's proposed increase. But a Democratic senator, Cindy Rosenwald of Nashua, said she disagrees with the move to increase projected business tax collections. Rosenwald said she had her own conversation with Stepp, and had received a more mixed assessment of businesses. 'If the tariff stuff doesn't calm down, that's going to lead to more business uncertainty, but if the extension of the federal tax cuts gets made (in Congress), businesses will like that, because they like certainty,' Rosenwald said. '…So I'm not comfortable with increasing the business tax rates.' Adopting those new projections will allow the Senate to plan for nearly $108 million more in revenue over the next two years, which could help it ease some cuts imposed by the House. The committee voted to approve the new revenue figures on party lines, 5-2. The committee voted on Wednesday against a proposal to increase the amount of money transferred to the state's affordable housing fund from $5 million to $7 million. That money comes out of the state's real estate transfer tax. Watters argued that the fund should be increased to allow more development because the current amount is not enough. Initially, Democrats and affordable housing advocates had pushed for the annual transfers to the fund to be doubled, to $10 million.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The week ahead: Committees start to finish 2025 agenda
Birdsell fights to block foreign ownership near N.H. military sites Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, has led the call for the state to outlaw ownership of property near key military properties by a list of banned countries to include the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Iran, Syria and North Korea In this shortened post-holiday week, the New Hampshire Legislature will refrain from holding business sessions to allow committees in the state Senate to wrap up work on a two-year state budget proposal. It will also give the House of Representatives time to finalize the thorniest bills sent to it from the other body. Senate Finance Committee Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, told his six colleagues to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend and come back ready to slog through four straight days of intense committee work. 'We've quite a few details to finalize but I've delegated key senators to resolve each of the remaining issues in dispute,' Gray said at the end of last week. Reduction in layoffs At the end of last week, Senate budget writers checked off an important box, restoring many of the nearly 100 layoffs in Department of Corrections contained in the House-approved state budget. 'I think we met a good middle ground,' Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, said during a radio interview Friday. Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, credited now-resigned Corrections Commissioner Helen Hanks for working with him to make the most improvements to the House budget for the least amount of money. The Senate changes reduce the $34 million in cuts the House made to about $20 million. This reduces the layoffs to about two dozen with the elimination of about 35 other vacant positions. 'She was really cooperative and constructive in restoring nearly all of the affected positions for the least hit on the budget, which we appreciate,' Lang said in an interview. Other big-ticket budget decisions the Senate panel needs to make include the amount of state aid for the university system, many programs in the Department of Health and Human Services along with the fate of the Office of Child Advocate, the Human Rights Commission, Housing Appeals Board and Board of Land and Tax Appeals. Pitch to 'fix' ban on teaching bias Gray said one change the Senate will make is to reject a House-proposed 5% fee on all dedicated funds to generate $30 million over the two-year cycle. He announced plans instead to direct Gov. Kelly Ayotte to identify a similar amount of budget savings as a section in the Senate spending plan. Several House committees will be holding long sessions to try and hammer out their final Senate bills to include: Cordelli says he has way to fix ban on 'divine concepts' Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, will ask a House panel he chairs to change a state law that bans the teaching of discrimination in public schools. The proposal is an attempt to fix a 2021 law a federal judge set aside because it was unconstitutionally vague. • Risk pools (SB 297): Secretary of State David Scanlan proposed reforms to set up tougher financial guardrails for the pools that sponsor health or property and casualty insurance for member cities and towns, schools and county government. House Commerce Committee Chairman John Hunt, R-Rindge, has a competing proposal to permit the four companies offering these lines to instead come under regulation of the Insurance Department. • Foreign ownership (SB 162): Birdsell has championed this one to prevent the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from acquiring property within 10 miles of an included list of state properties including the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Pease Air National Guard Base, several other national guard sites and the New Boston Space Force Station. • Moving state primary (SB 222): This would move the state primary election from one of the latest in the nation in September up to June when more than a third of states hold theirs. The House Election Laws Committee will make the final recommendation on this one; they had endorsed the idea earlier this spring but wanted to put it off until after the 2026 election; as currently written the change would take effect next Jan. 1. • Education Freedom Accounts (SB 295): The House Finance Committee holds on Wednesday the last committee vote on the Senate-passed plan to eliminate any income eligibility so all parents could receive taxpayer-paid scholarships to send their children to private, religious, alternative public or home school programs (SB 295). • Ban on teaching discrimination (SB 100): Sen. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, will promote his amendment to alter the 2021 law aimed at blocking teachers from such 'divisive concepts' as Critical Race Theory. A federal court struck down the law as unconstitutionally vague and this seeks to add a mental state factor for the violating teacher that Cordelli maintains would fix the law's legal defect. Opponents insisted the set aside law was beyond saving. klandrigan@
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Senate approves additional state funding for homeless shelters and services amid rising need
Senate Bill 113 would dedicate the money to the Department of Health and Human Services 'for the purpose of contracting with nonprofits that provide a continuum of services to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness.' (Photo by) The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would allocate $12 million per year in state funding to nonprofits providing services to homeless people, amid concerns that municipal budgets are strained and shelters are struggling. Senate Bill 113 would dedicate the money to the Department of Health and Human Services 'for the purpose of contracting with nonprofits that provide a continuum of services to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness.' The bill dedicates an additional $3 million to the housing stabilization fund, which allows DHHS to contract with organizations 'that provide eviction prevention and rehousing services' and allow those organizations to bill Medicaid for those The bill is 'looking to help keep our shelters open while the state is also working on the housing crisis,' said Sen. Regina Birdsell, a Hampstead Republican and the bill's prime sponsor, in an interview. Sen. Donovan Fenton, a Keene Democrat, advocated for the bill, noting that his mother had experienced homelessness when she was a child. 'It wasn't by choice,' he said during discussion on the Senate floor Thursday. 'Her father lost their job, and they had to spend their evenings in their family car under a bridge.' Fenton added, 'This bill is not just about building more shelters. It's about keeping people in their homes, providing support before they find themselves out on the streets.' The Department of Health and Human Services currently provides $8 million per year to homelessness services, and an additional $2 million for cold weather shelters. But shelter operators say that that funding is well short of what they need to operate. The proposed funding comes as New Hampshire's unhoused population has grown dramatically. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2024 Homelessness Assessment Report found that New Hampshire's unsheltered homeless population has grown 71% from 2023 to 2024, and 289% since 2019. New Hampshire had the highest percentage increase in homelessness of all 50 states between 2022 and 2023, according to annual point in time estimates. And homeless shelters are coming under strain. Speaking to the Senate Finance Committee in support of SB 113, Maria Devlin, president and CEO of Families in Transition, which operates the largest shelter in the state, said their annual occupancy rate is 97%. Devlin added that state funding has not been sufficient; the organization typically faces a $1 million shortfall each year after its state allocations, which must be made up through philanthropy and municipal grants. Birdsell said her bill's proposed allocation of $12 million wouldn't completely change that dynamic. 'There's always going to have to be some type of philanthropy going on,' she said. 'But this hopefully will increase what they're already getting to keep them lasting a little bit longer, so their philanthropy requirement is a little bit less.' Towns and cities, which are statutorily obligated to take care of unhoused people in their jurisdictions who can't find support, say they are also burdened. Keene Mayor Jay Kahn, a former state senator, testified to the committee that his city had budgeted $300,000 for housing costs last year, and ultimately had to spend $1.2 million. Kahn and other mayors argue the state should step up funding to shelters to address the demand and provide a stronger pathway to housing for struggling residents. 'The burden is significant and extreme,' he said. The bill received a unanimous vote of ought to pass. The Senate then voted to table the bill – a standard maneuver that allows it to be introduced into the budget later in the session. Birdsell said homelessness money is just one step in addressing the homelessness crisis. 'I think obviously the next step is to try and get housing, additional housing,' she said. '… The problem we have in New Hampshire is you have municipalities who, you know, they don't want it to be a mandate from the state. They continue wanting to be able to have local control. So that's a real fine line.'
