The Senate met in session for the first time in three months. They met in Representatives Hall which is the usual location for House sessions but instead was used by the Senate to allow the 24 members to socially distance.
26 House-passed bills were on the Senate calendar but each bill was used to include a voluminous assortment of Senate priority bills and other provisions totaling almost 350 pages. There were omnibus bills for healthcare, the environment, education, criminal justice, and other issues.
This maneuver was necessary because of the House’s failure to extend deadlines meaning that bills needed a two-thirds majority vote to suspend the rules and allow the bills to be taken up.
Many of the omnibus bills were passed on a bipartisan basis including a package of bills related to child protection, prescription drugs, and transportation infrastructure. Other bills such as increasing the minimum wage and requiring insurance companies to cover elective abortion procedures passed on a 14-10 vote with Republicans voting against the bills.
These bills will now go to the House for concurrence or non-concurrence which only requires a majority vote. Both the House and Senate meet on June 30 which is expected to be the last day of the session.
Gov. Sununu released guidance for the last remaining business sectors that haven’t opened yet. These include amusement parks and movie theatres. They will be allowed to re-open at the end of the month under this new guidance.
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