On June 11, when the House holds its first session since mid-March, the first order of business will be voting on new bill deadlines which require a two-thirds vote.
However, on Tuesday, Republican Leader Dick Hinch said, “We absolutely agree that the House needs to get back to work, and we want to get back to work, but the consensus opinion was that unless the Democrat leadership team in the House opens up their closed decision-making process, Republicans will be reluctant to enable the rule changes needed to move forward.”
Speaker Shurtleff responded by saying, “not a week has gone by where I have not been in touch with a member of the minority leadership team and for them to suggest otherwise is preposterous and an outright lie.”
Although Democrats have the majority in the House, they do not have a two-thirds majority and would need Republicans to pass the new bill deadlines.
Senate Republicans also weighed in saying, “we call upon our Democratic colleagues to work with us to pass needed bipartisan legislation that leads to recovery in our state – and not use this crisis for partisan proposals that undermine the needed recovery. We stand with Republican Leader Dick Hinch and our Republican House colleagues who are also demanding bipartisan cooperation and a transparent process.”
Next week the House will begin holding public hearings on bills. For several weeks committees have been having work sessions and executive sessions but this will be the first time public hearings have been held since the Statehouse shut down.
Today, the Senate will be holding it’s first committee hearing on a Transportation bill and amendment.
Lastly, it is expected that Governor Sununu will announce later this afternoon that the Stay at Home Order will be extended for at least a couple of more weeks. The current Stay at Home Order expires at the end of the month.
We will continue to keep you updated, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.