Legislative Updates by Rep. Maureen Mooney for January, 2024

Greetings!

Happy new year! The New Hampshire legislature is in full swing – finishing up retained bills from last year, and hearing newly introduced bills for 2024.

The NH House of Representatives met all day yesterday (January 4) and the day before (January 3) to act on bills retained from last year. As for bills that have public monies attached, it is important to know that only the first year of a legislative session is a “budget year.” Therefore, any bills that spend public funds coming after the adoption of the $15.3 billion state budget have to come from the uncertain surplus, the so called “rainy day” fund, or executive departments have to re-work their budgets to execute to what the bill demands. That being said, here are some interesting results from this week:

HB 601-FN (AN ACT relative to state participation in the Medicaid direct certification program for free and reduced price school meals). This bill requires the NH Department of Education to coordinate with Medicaid to automatically enroll students on Medicaid for the free and reduced lunch program. This bill would cost the state close to $200 million over two years which is not in the state budget adopted last year. Additionally, this bill raises privacy and data-sharing issues as to which students are on Medicaid, as well as the issue of not every student on Medicaid wanting free or reduced lunch. Currently, students can apply for free and reduced lunch by submitting the appropriate form and turning it into their schools. Here is more information on the current free and reduced lunch program in the Merrimack School District: https://www.sau26.org/Page/5047. HB 601-FN was voted “inexpedient to legislate” with a vote of 189-188.

HB 194-FN (AN ACT requiring the director of the division of archives and records management to compile and maintain a list of public monuments). This bill requires the Director of the Division of Historical Resources and Records Management to compile and maintain a list of public monuments. The projected cost – outside of the state budget – is close to $300,000 over three years and leads to the creation of a new position within the department. It was said on the House floor that the director of the division can accomplish the tasks in the bill without additional funding or personnel. HB 194-FN was voted “ought to pass with amendment” with a vote of 194-179, and now goes to the House Finance Committee.

SB 263-FN (AN ACT extending the New Hampshire granite advantage health care program and reestablishing the commission to evaluate the effectiveness and future of the New Hampshire granite advantage health care program). This bill would make the Medicaid program permanent without opportunity for review or periodic renewal. After much negotiation, the state budget adopted last year includes Medicaid expansion for 7 years before it is reviewed and renewed again. This is the responsible and prudent approach to a program of this importance and magnitude. SB 263-FN was voted “inexpedient to legislate” with a vote of 191-183.

I’ve received several inquires on an unique bill which will be heard this year - HB 1095 (AN ACT relative to the official pronunciation of “New Hampshire” and “Concord”). Here is the text: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/legacy/bs2016/billText.aspx?sy=2024&id=1540&txtFormat=pdf&v=current

See you around town!

Rep. Maureen Mooney is in her fifth term as a NH State Representative serving Merrimack. She serves on the House Finance Committee (Vice Chairman of Division III), the Fiscal Committee (alternate), and is co-chair of the Speaker’s Advisory Group. Her website is: www.votemooney.com and Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/maureenmooneynh.