Committee Assignment - Ways and Means

Having weighed in for a meaningful committee assignment, my first choice came through, which is Ways and Means.  What that means is the way the State raises revenue, otherwise called taxes and fees.

 

Remember the Beatles song "Taxman"?  It comments on the tax situation in Britain in the 1960's with lyrics such as "One for you, nineteen for me" and "Does 5% appear to small? Be thankful I don't take it all".  They were not referring to a 5% tax, but a 95% top tax rate.  We need to go the other way, cutting taxes.

 

So New Hampshire needs to get our fiscal act together, and the first House bill, HB-1 will be on the source of revenue for the 2011-13 Fiscal year.  The second House bill, HB-2, will be on how that revenue will be spent.  Ways and Means will do the leg work on HB-1, Finance will recommend the spending priorities for HB-2.  The full House will decide.

 

I've pledged to vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.  In fact, I want to roll back some of the more outrageous taxes and fees that occurred during the last few years.  It's going to be tough.  I've been receiving invitations to meet with organizations that will not want their budgets cut.  However, the NH budget has increased 24% during the last four years, a time when most other states have cut spending.  Just like our hardworking taxpayers during these tough times, the State will have to cut back as well.

 

Stay tuned...

Mr. Bill Goes to Concord

..But I didn't run into Mr. Sluggo, or Jimmy Stewart.  But I did get sworn at (correction, I mean sworn in) by the Governor.

So now I am officially on the payroll of the State of New Hampshire.  If I work 40 hours a week (likely if I'm assigned to a budget-related committee), I'll get paid a nickel an hour for my services.  The frugal voters of our State consider fare is fair.

In open session (not a caucus) votes were cast for Speaker.  Both parties, all 400 Reps get to vote.  Candidates were the 2006-10 Speaker from the Democrats, Terie Norelli, and Bill O'Brien, the Republican choice.  After a not-so-few words of support from their supporters, Terie graciously withdrew her nomination to make a unanimous vote for Bill.  Similar nominations, exultations, seconds and votes were for the House Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms.  Both are well-liked public servants who've served many terms.

The Senate was brought in, and we ran the same procedure for Bill Gardner, the longest serving Secretary of State in the country.  Bill keeps our Presidential primary first in the nation.  Extremely well qualified.

In closed session, the Republicans nominated three candidates for their Majority Leader, all considered good candidates.  D.J. Bettencourt won out.  I met D.J. for the first time walking in from the parking garage this morning.  Much like campaigning from the town dump, the path from the garage to the Statehouse is an area we all have to pass, you can't avoid.

The Majority Leader voting today was done by roll call for attendance and paper ballot, very time consuming.  Made us late for the food and beverage sessions afterwards.

I attended the reception sponsored by the Sheehan Phinney Capitol Group, involved with "Government Relations Services".  Gee, I wonder what that means.  Their flyer listed 47 clients, five main sponsors and eight lobbyists.  Free hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine.  I paid for a gin and tonic instead.  A Rep's gotta have some principals, I mean principles.  In truth, after all day of having my ears burned by babbling, I needed something stiffer.  So I had two.

Therefore I strategically avoided "TheLobbyNH.com" reception, which is a journalist organization with a Business and Political website.  Didn't want to make the front page of tomorrow's Nashua Telegraph.  Sometimes Mr. Smith can teach you something.

Freshmen Orientation

Remember what it was like when you were a Freshman?  For us new Representatives, it's high school all over again.

We spent the last three days in Concord getting tours of the Statehouse and Legislative Office Building, meeting the staff, attending training sessions and learning the legislative ropes.  One of the highlights for us was meeting the fourth graders from the Bicentennial Elementary School in Ward 8, and presenting the class a NH flag that had flown over the capital.

The upcoming sessions will likely review over 1,000 bills, and I began checking filings by other Reps on legislation I intend to submit.  I was advised it's usually better to co-sponsor a bill already in progress than creating a similar one of your own.  December 3 is the deadline for filing bills for the upcoming session, ending June 30.

Our caucus elected Bill O'Brien as our Speaker nominee, to be confirmed by the entire House on December 1.  The election was contested, but the losing candidate showed a great deal of grace and class in requesting that the vote for Bill be made unanimous.

We should be receiving our committee assignments from the Speaker during the next 30 days.  That's when the workload really picks up.  Remember those 1,000+ bills?  They all get assigned to committees for resolution, typically OPT (Ought to pass) or ITL (Inexpedient to legislate).

If the OPT bills are voted unanimous by committee, they go on the Consent Calender.  Consent Calender bills are voted (and voted yes) as a group by the full House on Wednesday's as they are considered bi-partisan and non-controversial.  However, any member of the House can pull any bill off the Consent Calender and take it up individually for debate and a vote.

The good news in NH is that every bill comes to a vote.  Legislation can never be bottled up.

My civics lesson for today.

Inauguration Day

There is an old joke floating around NH, goes something like this:

"Every two years, for 10 hours, the State of NH is truly safe.  That's between the time all the previously elected officials are kicked out of office (midnight) and the new ones haven't yet been sworn in"

So at 10 am on Wednesday, December 1, the swearing in ceremony will take place.

I'm sure for most of you, attending third-party graduations and the like are right up there with watching your neighbor's home movies.  But if you are truly bored with nothing better to do that day, you can visit Concord and have your name forever immortalized as a visitor in the proceedings of the NH House.  Let me know and I will add you to the official guest list.

Bill