State Senate Committee Rejects Governor's Budget Bill

A state Senate budget committee voted along party lines to reject SB 233, a request by Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, to request cuts from the legislative and judicial branches.

Republicans blasted the proposal saying that the governor has avoided informing leaders about revenues and spending.

“For almost a year, I have been asking Governor Hassan to share with the Legislature information on the spending problems within New Hampshire agencies,” said state Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman Jeanie Forrester, R-Meredith. “With revenues running ahead of projections, it was essential that we address spending proactively. Instead, the Governor kept the problem to herself, tried to blame it on revenues even as they exceeded our targets, and finally came forward with this package of cuts to branches that are controlling their spending.”

Forrester, who has been requesting information for nearly a year, stated that Hassan “would have raided dedicated funds and taken money from branches that are living within their budgets, yet would barely scratch the surface of the $58 million overspending problem. As such, the Finance Committee voted down this bill.”

Senate President Chuck Morse, R-Salem, added while the Legislature had been managing its budget, “it is now time for the Governor to manage her state agencies spending problems. She needs to stop raiding dedicated funds and trying to take money away from other branches of government that are meeting their Constitutional obligation to live within their means.”

Hassan, in a statement, countered that the vote was critical to balancing the FY15 budget.

“In light of the year-to-date shortfalls in revenue from business taxes and the interest-and-dividend tax, additional appropriations approved by the legislature, and a rising number of children receiving traditional Medicaid coverage because of a change in federal law, I have taken a number of pre-emptive steps to ensure a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2015, including recommending this legislation that makes reductions to legislative spending,” she said. “Combined with our prudent management and strategic actions in the Executive Branch, this legislation would put us in a position to finish Fiscal Year 2015 in the black. While I have been working with state agencies to responsibly address our budget challenges, members of legislative leadership have yet to put forward any alternative proposals, and it is disappointing that Senate Republicans oppose this effort to ensure a balanced budget. If the Senate is not willing to pass a bill that includes reductions to legislative spending, I will continue to remain open to hearing alternatives for reductions in order to maintain fiscal responsibility and ensure a balanced budget for Fiscal Year 2015.”