Thoughts from the House Floor
As the new year gathers momentum the New Hampshire State House is abuzz with activity.
First, the Pomp
As a first-time Representative I find the nuance and ceremony around the transition of government fascinating. Last month, for about 11 hours, there were no Representatives serving in the State. The prior term ended at 11:59pm on a Tuesday and the new group was not sworn in until around 11am on Wednesday. But we did take the oath of office, with the Governor presiding and the Executive Council bearing witness. A month later, the House and Senate were called upon to confirm the vote count certified by the Secretary of State, allowing for the Governor to be sworn in. Kelly Ayotte took her oath then administered that of the Council.
I like the circularity of that process, with each group ensuring that the other remains functional.
Getting to the Point
Convening day for the current session, held the on 8 January 2025, saw a number of changes made to the self-imposed rules of the House, mostly to provide even more control of the legislative process to the majority party.
On the 9th, after being sworn in, the new Governor gave her inaugural address, outlining her expectations for the year. It was, as is typical, a carryover from the campaign trail.
It was also a rally for the Republicans, who continue to hold control of the executive and legislative branches. Which gave rise to a particularly quirky and contradictory bit of Ayotte's oratory.
Around 8 minutes into the speech the Governor addressed the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, making clear that she expected a strong political will to be exerted by the legislative branch, "I'm looking for both of you to marshal our strong Republican majorities to deliver on the promises that we made to keep our state moving in the right direction."
This is not a message of unity, but a call to partisan policies, the likes of which were adopted the day prior in the rules process.
Yet just a minute later the Governor pivoted, sharing that "You have my word that each and every day I will work on your behalf to do what's best for all of us for all of New Hampshire I'm going to be a governor for you whether you're a Republican, a Democrat, an independent, you name it because our state is so much bigger than a party or an ideology." From here she appealed to the minority leadership, saying "Good government knows no party so let's show the folks that when partisanship is at a fever pitch we can set a different example."
Calling for bipartisan cooperation and claiming to represent everyone, while also imploring the majority leadership to deliver on their party promises is quite the juxtaposition.
From there the Governor went into detail on many specific policies, again mostly echoing her positions from the campaign trail:
- Housing Crisis – She vaguely alluded to "agency approval" delays and promised to take an "all of the above strategy" which, without real specifics, does not appear to be much of a strategy at all
- Education – Ayotte bragged about the overall spending per pupil, while sidestepping the fact that the majority of that funding comes from municipalities. The State underfunds education dramatically, and likely illegally, as multiple prior and ongoing court cases have shown. Ayotte wants to continue down that same path, with a promise to divert even more public school funding to private and religious schools under the guise of parental choice.
On the plus side, Ayotte did bring up technical and vocational training programs, via both public/private partnerships and via the State's community colleges. This at least offers a glimmer of hope, though I'll reserve judgement until I see just how much of the funding is intended to be siphoned off to the private sector. - Taxes – Ayotte took a victory lap on the elimination of the Interest & Dividends Tax, a move that is massively skewed towards benefitting the wealthiest in the state. She also promised to keep New Hampshire free of a sales tax and an income tax. To address the gap this creates in the state budget she is proposing cuts, though she did not get into details on what will be cut.
At the same time, she implored municipalities to not raise taxes, despite the state's shortfall on the education funding front. In short, the Republican trifecta is forcing the financial burden downstream so it can blame cities and towns for their budget shortfall problems it created at the state level.
Ayotte also slipped in a comment about changing revenue flows, noting "Business revenues are coming in lower than the past several years." It seems that, despite all the bragging about how the policies have created a strong and durable economic engine in the state, that might not be the case after all. Oopsie. - Cost Cutting – Taking a page out of the incoming Trump Administration's playbook, Ayotte announced the "Commission on Government Efficiency" to be led by Gov Benson and Andy Cruz. She promises that "COGE will make us smarter than ever before when it comes to saving taxpayer dollars and finding better ways to serve the people of this state." As with the comparable program at the Federal level there's no indication what actual power it will have, how much its leaders are being compensated, or what controls will be in place to prevent abuse.
- Abortion – "If you send me legislation that further restricts access to abortion beyond our current law I will veto it." Hopefully we won't have to test that promise. After all, Sununu made similar promises and held them, right up until the minute he didn't.
So, what's the takeaway here? For me, mostly that the next two years will be a constant battle to prevent further erosion of our public education system and the plundering of public funds for private enterprise on multiple fronts. And an uphill battle to make clear that the current budget crunch, the crushing property tax bills, and the future mess we're all about to experience comes at the hands of a Republican leadership team excited about bringing that burden to me and my neighbors.