The long-awaited House Budget has reared its ugly head and it is ugly indeed.
Let’s start with the jobs targeted to be eliminated:
-Dept. of Business & Economic Affairs – 14 positions
-Dept. of Corrections – 190 positions
-Dept. of Education – 27 positions
-Dept. of Natural & Cultural Resources – 8 positions
-Dept. of Safety – 8 positions
-Insurance Department – 3 positions
-Liquor Commission – 34 positions
-Secretary of State’s Office – 5 positions
What else has the House Finance Committee slated for the chopping block? Here we go:
-The Office of the Child Advocate, the agency that monitors the Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).
-The State Council on the Arts, provides grants to local arts programs.
-Eliminate the Human Rights Commission which is an independent agency. They hear civil rights and discrimination complaints and make recommendations to the Atty. Gen.’s Office for prosecution.
-Eliminate the Housing Appeals Board.
-Eliminate funding for family planning, which is so much more than that. Funds go to health centers to test for cancers, sexually transmitted infections and other health care.
-Cut funding to the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program.
-Cut $1.6 million to fund Adult Education.
-Eliminate the Commission on Aging (only the Republicans would target women, children and old people. Shameful!)
-Heavy cuts to Tourism Development Fund.
-Eliminate the State Loan Repayment Program.
-An increase to Medicaid prescriptions and initiating Medicaid and CHIP (Catastrophic Health Insurance Program) premiums.
Now for the good news! (eye roll . . .)
Republicans slipped into the budget the following two controversial bills; HB 675 takes away local voter control from spending money on their schools (attacks public schools and local control). HB 115 expands the school voucher program so now there will be no income cap by 2026. This is an unaudited, non-transparent free-for-all with property tax money, while taking away from public schools again.
Both House budget bills HB 1 and HB 2 have been toiled over in the House Finance Committee for quite a few weeks and will come before the full House on April 10 for a vote before moving on to the state Senate. Committee chairman and member of Liberty Alliance Rep. Ken Weyler, R-Kingston stated it was a difficult budget. “The economy that has happened in the last few years has been terrible. (There has) been … mismanagement caused by the decisions in Washington, D.C., that have affected us all, and it has lowered the amount of revenue we expected. Obviously, that’s a reason that we have to cut the budget, because the revenue just isn’t there.” Two things need to be mentioned here, both Pres. Obama and Biden left great economies, the opposite of terrible. And it’s good to see Rep. Weyler acknowledge the mismanagement “caused by the decisions in Washington, DC.”
Such a dark and dreary state the Republicans want us to live in.
On Wed., April 9th at the State House in Concord at noon there will be a rally to #DemandABetterBudget! You can sign up at:
tinyurl.com/NHBetterBudget
Come join us if you are able.