The remainder of the House legislative session remains in limbo after key partisan votes in the House Rules Committee. The committee voted 5-4 to support the Speaker’s plan which would have the House finish work on its own bills June 1, act on all Senate bills by June 25 and complete remaining work by June 30. However, the four Republicans voted against the deadline changes which would require a two-thirds majority vote for passage. Although the House has a Democratic majority they do not have a two-thirds majority. The proposed rule change will be brought up at the June 11 House session.
Without the rules changes, every bill will need a two-thirds majority to pass, which will kill most of the remaining bills. The House and Senate could take any bills not receiving a rule change for deadline and tack it on to a germane bill in that body’s possession. The amended bill would need concurrence by the other body which would only require a simple majority.
The Rules committee also voted 6-4 on party lines to block a House Republican priority bill. The bill would suspend a provision that was included in last year’s budget that would raise the state’s Business Profits and Business Enterprise taxes if state revenues fall at least 6% below estimates which is likely because of the pandemic. “This is not rocket science; it is a way to demonstrate the Legislature is focused on jobs and we want to help our small businesses rise out of the this pandemic,” said Republican Leader Hinch. Rep Lucy Weber, a Democrat member of the Rules Committee said, “I think it is very unlikely the change in the businesses’ tax rates is going to make a difference whether they are going to remain in business or not, because there are many other stressors that affect this decision.”
The Senate announced it will be holding it’s first session since the Statehouse closed down in mid-March. It will be on June 16 in Representatives Hall. The Senate has been very busy conducting remote bill hearings over the past couple of weeks and will continue with a busy schedule next week. It is expected that the Senate wants to complete its work by June 30.
Last Friday, Governor Sununu extended the Stay at Home Order until June 15. However, he will be holding a press conference later today where he is expected to announce changes to the stay-at-home-order. “As I shared yesterday, New Hampshire has seen positive Covid 19 data trends in recent weeks. It’s our intention to allow the Stay at Home Order to expire on June 15 and transition to a more flexible advisory,” said Sununu.