The statehouse has been closed now for three weeks and the longer it continues, the more questions arise as to how the legislature will finish its work.
As we mentioned last week, both the House and Senate amended their rules to extend deadlines if necessary because of Covid-19. Last Thursday would have been the usual deadline for the House and Senate to finish work on their own bills and then send the surviving bills to the other body.
The Speaker announced last week that they were going to explore ways to do committee work remotely. In that regard, the Fiscal Committee will be holding a remote meeting next Friday. This meeting is so that the committee can accept federal funds just passed under the CARES act and other important business. This will be the first time in history that a Fiscal Committee meeting will be held remotely. This is the same system that the Governor and Executive Council used last week for their meeting. It remains to be seen whether this system will be expanded to other committees.
In addition, the longer the economy is shut down the bigger the concern will be over state revenues. At a press conference this week, Governor Sununu said that he expects a large tax shortfall for the fiscal year. He said that he expects “severe budget cuts” in some departments.
While the statehouse is closed, we continue to stay in touch with legislators and will keep you updated on bill and committee information.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.