State Budget

MESSAGE FROM THE MAJORITY LEADER
 

House Republicans and Friends Across New Hampshire,
 

It was a historic day in the House yesterday as we voted to concur with the Senate budget bills. Of course there are aspects of this budget that I do not like, but there are many items that we could not afford to pass up. Should this have gone to a committee of conference, there was a very good chance that we could have lost on items that we worked hard to include. 

I am proud that this budget contains reforms to the state of emergency law. I am proud that we accomplished an accelerated phase out of the Interest and Dividends Tax – NH’s income tax. We were successful in passing a sunset on the Medicaid Expansion program, ensuring that it does not become permanent. And, overall, this budget spent less than what the House originally sent to the Senate.

We passed over $200 million in Meals and Rooms tax distributions to municipalities. We passed a record investment in education funding – over $2 billion dollars over the biennium. We passed Investments in mental health, system of care for the elderly, and childcare. And we passed over $200 million in Meals and Rooms tax distributions to municipalities, over $70 million in highway block grants to municipalities, and $6 million for municipal bridge aid grants.

As you can see, there are many great things in the state budget. This was a budget based on the hard work of the House, and much of what is in the budget was also in the House version. We will not stop here. We will continue to fight for House priorities that may not have made it in to the final version to ensure we live up to all of our promises to Granite Staters. 
 

All the best, 

Jason Osborne, House Majority Leader