This week at the State House
The Senate and House are each set to meet Thursday at 10 a.m. to make final decisions on establishing committees of conference.
As a reminder, committees of conference are an opportunity for lawmakers to hash out differences between bills if, for example, the House amended a Senate bill or vice versa. The Senate and House can avoid a committee of conference by simply agreeing with those changes but lawmakers can also decide to skip the process and let a bill die. Thursday is the last day to establish a committee of conference. As these committees are established, they will be updated here.
You can find the complete House and Senate calendars below:
STATE BUDGET
Senate approves budget bills
On Thursday, the Senate approved its version of the budget in a series of party-line votes. The budget will now go to a committee of conference – easily the highest profile committee of conference of the legislative session.
The Senate’s version of the budget included some very drastic changes from the House version with the hope of avoiding a veto from the governor. As noted above, the committee of conference will be established by Thursday and has a short time to work out an agreement. We’ll bring you an update next week.
You can find an update on the state budget vote from the Concord Monitor here.
NH PRIMARY
2020 Election: Presidential candidates in NH
As presidential contenders pass through the state, we’ve identified a reliable tracker from NBC where users can click through to view candidates’ events and appearances. Check out their tracker here.
As the presidential primary unfolds, we encourage you to take advantage of the special opportunity that we have here in New Hampshire to meet the candidates in person. We know there are many online tools and resources that track the candidates and we encourage you to use the tool that works best for you.
WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR
Updates on other bills we’re following
In addition to the bill listed above, here are progress reports on a few other key issues:
Child protection: Gov. Chris Sununu quietly signed our child protection bill, SB 6, in to law last Monday. We are planning an event to celebrate this massive win in the coming weeks. More details to follow.
Pension COLA: Our state pension COLA bill, HB 616, has been sent to the governor for signature and the governor has said he will sign the bill.
Clinicians bill: Our bill to establish a commission to study the business environment for mental health providers in New Hampshire, SB 115, was approved by the House and is expected to go to committee of conference.
Union notification: The bill that provides some important union workplace protections, SB 148, has been approved by the House and Senate. It is not expected to go to committee of conference, with the Senate expected to approve House changes.
Minimum wage: The House approved an amended version of the Senate’s minimum wage bill, SB 10, last week. It’s not clear if the bill will go to committee of conference or if the Senate will accept the changes.