Capital Comments: Learning for legislators is on-going

Capital Comments from State Senator Bob Odell Each week I shuttle between meetings in my office and committee rooms in the State House and the Legislative Office Building across the street.  Every meeting, whether with a constituent, a lobbyist or government official, is a learning experience. If I were in school, a reader might compare [...]

NH’s economy: good news balanced by challenges

Capital Comments from Senator Bob Odell “Crossover” or midpoint in the 2012 session, was finished a week earlier amidst some of the busiest legislative days of the year.  That meant last week there were too few bills ready for either the House or Senate to meet. A Wednesday not in Concord is very rare.  The [...]

NH’s loons and another call for help

“The haunting cry of the common loon is vanishing from many New England waters. Whether we hear it much longer depends on us.” – from “Call of the Wild: Loons” by Kristen Laine (Yankee magazine, July/August 2011) The Loon Preservation Committee and The New Hampshire Lakes Association are asking for help to protect our loons [...]

New Hampshire’s loons need your help!

Advocacy alert: SB 224 is critically important legislation to New Hampshire’s loons. (Click on the links at the bottom of the article for more information and contacts.) A fresh layer of snow blanketed New Hampshire this week, but rain arrived this weekend, and warmer days will follow. In the spring, when the ice melts away [...]

Capital Comments: RGGI, shoreland protection, and parakeets

By State Senator Bob Odell “Tweet, tweet” Senators jokingly went back and forth. On Thursday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had its final public hearing for the 2011 session. And the hearing was on House Bill 651 allowing the sale and possession of monk, also called Quaker parakeets. The end of our hearings [...]

Capital Comments: Personal stories put faces to NH budget bills

By Senator Bob Odell “This is amazing,” Diane Woods of Durham said, as she began her testimony before last Thursday’s Senate Finance Committee public hearing on the budget bills, House Bills 1 and 2. More than 400 people signed up to speak.  And many of them got to speak during the 8 and 3/4 hours [...]

Legislators okay changes to NH court system

Last week the New Hampshire Senate approved the so-call “circuit court bill” sponsored by Rep. Gary Richardson (D-Hopkinton) that will revamp the state’s court system. “The reorganization would bring lots of staffing and management changes and reductions, with an overall projected savings of almost $1.5 million in staffing costs in the next four years,” wrote [...]

Senate Budget Hearings Today | Front Door Politics

Today’s Daily Dispatch from Front Door Politics reports on today’s budget hearing in Concord. Click on the link below for the entire article. Today’s Dispatch also mentions that the House budget would abolish the Department of Cultural Resources and defund the New Hampshire State Council of the Arts. “If passed, that would make New Hampshire [...]

Bill Tracker Upgrade and Updates | Front Door Politics

From Front Door Politics… “Bill Tracker: tracking the laws that matter to you. Search, sort, understand.Want to know who voted for what in the N.H. House and Senate? Our 2011 Bill Tracker now includes links to all roll call votes, as well as links to the text of every bill we’ve covered so far this [...]

It’s a challenging budget season

In this week’s Capital Comments, Senator Odell writes about the Senate Finance Committee and its works on the budget; the performance of “Annie” at the Newport Opera House; and Turning Points. By State Senator Bob Odell While Mondays and Fridays are usually quiet days in the State House, the Senate Finance Committee is using those [...]

They Said It! | Front Door Politics

They Said It! Tensions are running high in Concord this session, as the following references to demons, jalapeno peppers, and a hostile press in this week’s “They Said It!” reflect. via They Said It! | Front Door Politics.

NHPTV and Rooms & Meals Go to Vote | Front Door Politics

In what is shaping up to be the busiest period yet for lawmakers this session, the House will meet twice next week to vote on dozens of bills — on Tuesday after Gov. John Lynch’s budget address to the Legislature and on Wednesday for its regularly scheduled session.Two bills that we have reported on this [...]

Back to Basics: Repealing Public Kindergarten | Front Door Politics

More than three years after the Legislature mandated public kindergarten in New Hampshire, the debate has returned with a House proposal that would repeal the law. via Back to Basics: Repealing Public Kindergarten | Front Door Politics.

A local look at NH’s retirement system and reform

By Jessie Levine / New London town administrator Those of us in town and school government who are charged with budget preparation are faced with the perennial challenge of trying to provide the same (or better) service at the same (or lower) cost. It goes without saying that our task is made harder by decisions [...]

Testing Tax Cuts | Front Door Politics

Republican leadership at the State House has made tax cutting and budget balancing top priorities and today, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold public hearings and may have executive session votes on nine tax-related bills. They include three measures we are watching that could lead to tens of millions in tax cuts on [...]

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