The Bedford Rep Report #5

THE BUDGET

The following analysis was done by someone who is close to the budget process, and who agreed to let me include it here.

“The current budget is about $10.8 billion. Gov. Hassan proposed a budget of about $11.5 billion. The House more or less split the difference at $11.15. It’s about $360 million above the current budget, but a smaller increase than what Hassan requested.

The House budget spends every dime there is. Gov. Hassan would have paid for even more spending by raising taxes - an average of $250 for every man, woman and child in the state, or an even $1,000 for a family of four.

Despite caterwauling to the contrary, this budget is not devastating, drastic, or draconian. Think about it; the difference between the big increase Gov. Hassan requested and the smaller increase she was given is just 3 cents on the dollar. Don’t you think all of the administrators can find just a few cents of waste?

According to Gallup polls, people estimate that about 41 cents of every tax dollar is wasted. That’s at the state level; it’s even higher at the federal level.

A difficult section of the budget dealt with state aid to education. A small portion of state aid, about 17% of the total, is “stabilization grants”. Many people think that the stabilization grants should be phased out - but not if their own towns lose money. One of the important votes on the budget was to phase out the grants more slowly.

The House-proposed budget now goes to the Senate and later will return to the House for final negotiations.”

BUDGET RELATED BILLS

HB2: Amendment 1163h, is the Finance committee’s amendment to the Governor’s proposed budget to produce the House proposed budget.

Passed 219-161 (Rs: 218-5, Ds: 1-155)

Danielson, David (r, Bedford) Pass
Fromuth, Bart (r, Bedford) Kill
Gould, Linda (r, Bedford) Pass
Murphy, Keith (r, Bedford) Pass
Peterson, Ken (r, Bedford) Pass
Sanborn, Laurie (r, Bedford) Kill
Wolf, Terry (r, Bedford) Pass

HB2: Amendment 1224h, lessens proposed reductions in stabilization grants, which are a portion of state aid to education.

Passed 210-170 (Rs: 209-13, Ds: 1-156)

Danielson, David (r, Bedford) Pass
Fromuth, Bart (r, Bedford) Kill
Gould, Linda (r, Bedford) Pass
Murphy, Keith (r, Bedford) Pass
Peterson, Ken (r, Bedford) Pass
Sanborn, Laurie (r, Bedford) Kill
Wolf, Terry (r, Bedford) Pass

HB2: Amendment 1162h, authorizes operation of Keno machines under license, with profits going to the education trust fund.

Passed 206-176 (Rs: 179-45, Ds: 27-130)

Danielson, David (r, Bedford) Pass
Fromuth, Bart (r, Bedford) Kill
Gould, Linda (r, Bedford) Pass
Murphy, Keith (r, Bedford) Pass
Peterson, Ken (r, Bedford) Pass
Sanborn, Laurie (r, Bedford) Pass
Wolf, Terry (r, Bedford) Pass

HB1: Amendment 1164h, is the Finance committee’s amendment to the Governor’s proposed budget to produce the House proposed budget.

Passed 210-162 (Rs: 210-8, Ds: 0-153)

Danielson, David (r, Bedford) Pass
Fromuth, Bart (r, Bedford) Kill
Gould, Linda (r, Bedford) Pass
Murphy, Keith (r, Bedford) Pass
Peterson, Ken (r, Bedford) Pass
Sanborn, Laurie (r, Bedford) Kill
Wolf, Terry (r, Bedford) Pass

HB1: is the enormous spreadsheet detailling line items for the coming two years of state spending

Passed 212-161 (Rs: 211-8, Ds: 1-152)

Danielson, David (r, Bedford) Pass

Fromuth, Bart (r, Bedford) Kill
Gould, Linda (r, Bedford) Pass
Murphy, Keith (r, Bedford) Pass
Peterson, Ken (r, Bedford) Pass
Sanborn, Laurie (r, Bedford) Absent
Wolf, Terry (r, Bedford) Pass

OTHER BILLS

HB357: Amendment 1015h would have raised the gas tax.

Killed 3-365 (Rs: 2-215, Ds: 1-149)

Danielson, David (r, Bedford) Kill
Fromuth, Bart (r, Bedford) Kill
Gould, Linda (r, Bedford) Kill
Murphy, Keith (r, Bedford) Kill
Peterson, Ken (r, Bedford) Kill
Sanborn, Laurie (r, Bedford) Kill
Wolf, Terry (r, Bedford) Kill

HB572: gives the owner of residential property a better option when property is taken by eminent domain for a utility.

Passed 364-5 (Rs: 213-4, Ds: 150-1)

Danielson, David (r, Bedford) Pass
Fromuth, Bart (r, Bedford) Pass
Gould, Linda (r, Bedford) Pass
Murphy, Keith (r, Bedford) Pass
Peterson, Ken (r, Bedford) Pass
Sanborn, Laurie (r, Bedford) Pass
Wolf, Terry (r, Bedford) Pass

GENERAL SCORES

And now, the information you’ve all been waiting for, — how did your Reps from District 7 and 41 do overall in upholding the Republican platform?

These scores are based on how well each Rep voted to uphold the Republican platform. While there were 61 bills considered, the scores are based only on votes actually cast by each Rep, noted after their scores.

For example, one Rep whose husband was hospitalized, was only present for 16 votes, but voted right on all 16, thus earning a score of 100%.

We’ve added attendance records too. Please keep in mind that most absences were likely excused for business or personal (health or health of family member) reasons.

Murphy, Keith - Scored 100% on 60 bills (98.4% attendance)
Fromuth, Bart - Scored 94.5% on 52 bills (90.2% attendance)
Sanborn, Laurie - Scored 93.0% on 43 bills (70.5% attendance)
Gould, Linda - Scored 90.2% on 55 bills (100% attendance)
Peterson, Ken - Scored 66.1% on 59 bills (96.7% attendance)
Danielson, David - Scored 62.1% on 58 bills (95.1% attendance)
Wolf, Terry - Scored 60.0% on 60 bills (98.4% attendance)

Contact links for your Bedford Reps are included in a previous article.