Welcome
to a new feature on our Senate web site. I hope to provide some informal
updates on what's going on in the Statehouse as the session progresses. You
can still turn to our Senate Newsroom to see our news releases.
But I hope to begin a conversation on this page where I can share my
thoughts and some of the highlights of each week.
July 10, 2009
Fourteen years ago,
This week I signed Senate Bill 180 – establishing a system of accountability in
our public schools -- and sent it on to the governor to be signed into law.
The accountability bill represents the final piece of our three-year legislative
effort to define an adequate education, provide for its cost and ensure schools
are giving students the requisite opportunities.
Although it got very little attention, the passage of this bill marks the end of
a very important and intensive multi-year process that involved public forums
around the state, study committees, and extensive work by key lawmakers.
And despite the economic challenges this year, I am proud that the Legislature
honored its promise to local schools to pay for the basics included in the
definition of an adequate education. In total, schools around the state will see
an increase of $123 million in state aid over the next two years.
For the first time since the
Let me also mention one other effort that is finally bearing fruit. Last year,
the Senate initiated a bill to allow for the development of an affordable health
insurance plan for small businesses.
This week, the governor announced that Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield would begin
offering the HealthFirst wellness plan for small businesses starting on Oct. 1.
It took a lot of work, not just to develop the legislation, but to create the
specifics of the plan, which may serve as a model for ways to lower health care
costs by focusing on prevention, coordinated care and incentives for employees
to stay healthy.
The plan will cost roughly 15 to 20 percent less than comparable plans available
to small businesses today. Given
how important small businesses are to our economy, this is welcome news!
One of the most rewarding parts of serving in the Legislature is to see the
results of our efforts in our communities – whether that’s money for schools or
help for small businesses.
As we gear down to a slower pace out of session and struggle through a
continuing recession, these accomplishment provide some rays of sunshine to our
days.
July 3, 2009
The New Hampshire Senate got a lot of
attention earlier this year for being the first legislative body in the nation
with a majority of women (13 women, 11 men). As the year progressed, however, we
focused on our work and the gender of our membership fell to the wayside.
As we end the session, it's nice to be reminded that it was a historic session. We hope that our work reflects well on women legislators everywhere.
The radio piece below just aired on BBC World News this week based on interviews that BBC reporter Matthew Wells did with us some months ago. It's a lighthearted look at the Senate women (and Senate men) and if you didn't hear it on the radio, you can listen here.
June 26, 2009
It was challenging but we found a way to preserve essential services and to
maintain the programs needed to help the growing number of families struggling
in this difficult economy.
We’ve funded important bridge and road repairs; we’re meeting our constitutional
obligation to educate our children, and we’re reorganizing state agencies to be
more efficient and cost effective over the long run.
I
owe a debt of gratitude to the many senators who put in hours of hard work and
long nights looking in detail at our state agencies and where we could make
intelligent cuts or reorganize state services.
I’m particularly hopeful that the plan to create a new Division of Community
Corrections will provide greater supervision in the community for hundreds of
parolees and probationers and keep them from returning to prison, where their
care costs us $30,000 a year or more.
And while we had to resort to a patchwork of small tax and fee increases, this
enabled us provide services to more people on the developmental disabilities
waitlist, restore most of the funding for those facing catastrophic illness or
brain injury as well as preserving the Foster Grandparents and other senior
volunteer programs that help keep low-income seniors productive and healthy.
While, the budget cuts about 200 state jobs, the governor will be working with
our state employees to find another $25 million in savings in personnel–related
negotiations. One option will be for state employees to take furloughs one day
per month or share in the ever increasing cost of health insurance, but whatever
our state workers negotiate, we all hope to avert more layoffs
The details of the budget plan are many, but overall I believe we achieved our
goal of preserving critical services and a social safety net at a time of great
need.
June 12, 2009
Senator Sgambati (far right) asks a question of
administrators from the Department of Corrections here at a meeting of the
budget committee of conference yesterday.
We spent most of this week with our House colleagues talking about issues related to spending and cuts. Today we'll begin to look at the House and Senate proposals relating to revenue.
Next week, we hope to complete work on a budget plan that takes the best from the House, Senate and the Governor so the state can arrive at a budget we can all support. Check back then!
June 5, 2009
But quietly and unheralded late Wednesday night, the Senate also passed a
capital budget. Unlike the operating budget, this two-year plan represents our
investments in our buildings and institutions. It makes significant investments
while maintaining our commitment to low debt and a strong state credit rating.
We consider it
As the chairman of the Senate’s Capital Budget Committee Senator Harold Janeway
said:
“With low interest rates and low construction costs, this is a good time to
invest in projects that will create jobs, improve government efficiency and make
our state more attractive to visitors and vacationers.”
The capital budget provides for improvements at
The capital budget includes money to build a new science and technology building
at the
We also expect to update computer systems to improve the efficiency of
operations at the Department of Motor Vehicles, Health and Human Services and
Revenue Administration.
With construction costs down, the committee found earlier projects that had come
in under budget and applied the money to new needs. Funds left from a Manchester
District Court project can be used to pay for new roofs on two courthouses.
Funds left from another courthouse project can be applied to improve handicapped
accessibility at the Supreme Court.
We’re making state dollars stretch and we’re using them to help our economy grow
by creating jobs and encouraging tourism. The capital budget represents a silver
lining for our state in dark times.
May 29,
2009
It has been a long and difficult week for the Senate Finance Committee.
After many
hours of work, we have a budget plan that meets our most basic needs: funding
education, public safety and health, roads and bridges and the essential safety
net for our most vulnerable citizens.
As the
recession has deepened these past months, we’ve seen major decreases ($200
million in this year alone) in our traditional sources of revenue. At the same
time, human needs are increasing.
In the process
of creating a balanced budget we had to make some very difficult choices,
eliminating funding for any program that was not essential.
In the final
hours, with the addition of new revenues, we were able to restore funding to our
most essential programs serving folks facing catastrophic illness, traumatic
brain injury and developmental disability waitlists, as well as services to the
elderly and children in this state.
While the
Senate budget proposal represents a major accomplishment this week, we still
must find agreement with the full Senate prior to our going into conference
committee to find agreement with the House on the best sources for new revenues.
The full Senate
votes on Wednesday on this budget plan. After that, we’ll meet with House budget
writers in a committee of conference to develop a plan we can all support and
send on to the governor.
The entirety of
the budget is subject to change as we develop a final package before the end of
June. Stay tuned.
May 22, 2009
Guest
post by Senator Kathleen Sgambati
This week the House Commerce Committee gave its unanimous support to a bill I
sponsored that would provide young adults up to age 26 with access to low-cost
health insurance through Healthy Kids.
We heard distressing testimony from young people who are postponing visits to
the doctor because they have no insurance and can’t afford it on part-time or
entry-level salaries. One young man ignored a cyst on his back that eventually
had to be removed surgically. Another came down with appendicitis; a third
struggles with high blood pressure and a digestive disorder. In these cases, our
young people risked their health or faced crippling debts because they lacked
affordable health insurance.
Senate Bill 115 passed with overwhelming support in the Senate in March. With
the House committee’s recommendation of “ought to pass,” I’m optimistic the
legislation will pass the House on June 3.
The legislation would allow young adults at or below 400 percent of the federal
poverty level to buy into Healthy Kids if they don’t have access to insurance
through their parents.
Healthy Kids has a great track record of providing comprehensive health
insurance for low-income children at reasonable costs and this is our
opportunity to use their economies of scale and negotiating power to help young
adults.
There is no subsidy required by the state or federal government. Under this
plan, young adults would pay the cost of their own premiums – about $170 per
month. The plan would cover everything from preventive care to hospitalizations
and dental care.
This is smart policy for the state. Young adults are among the healthiest and
least expensive to insure. They’re also the age group least likely to be
insured. Too often they assume they’re immune to accident or illness until
circumstances prove otherwise.
When they suddenly appear in our hospital emergency rooms, the expense is
enormous. And when a young person cannot pay, the cost is shifted onto the rest
of the insured population. It’s in our interest to get our young people to buy
into the insurance system. Not only can they seek care before a situation turns
into an expensive emergency but they join the rest of us in contributing to the
costs of health care for all.
As young adults get established in their careers, we assume they’ll have access
to health insurance through their employers so we see this program as a bridge.
Young adults shouldn’t have to choose between needed health care and medical
debt as they begin their adult life. This is one way we can help.
May
15, 2009
While some will argue we should just cut state bureaucracy, it helps to
understand that about three-quarters of our state expenditures are in direct
payments for programs in health and human services, school aid or other funds
that go to our communities. Our state employees make up about 14 percent of our
budget and their benefits about 4 percent.
In order to work through the many layers of the state budget, members of the
Senate Finance Committee, on which I serve, divided up the state agencies and
parts of the budget into manageable focus areas.
We’ll be coming together as a full Finance Committee to share our information
and recommendations next week. The committee hopes to put together a final
package the following week and have a budget proposal for the full Senate to
vote on by June 3.
Once the Senate passes a budget, we’ll have to meet in conference committee with
our House counterparts to reach agreement on a spending package that we can all
support and send to the governor.
It’s the most difficult challenge we’ll face this year and the outcome will
affect all of us here in
May 8, 2009
Families in Transition, an
organization that Senator Larsen has long supported, surprised her this week
with a special presentation in the Senate. Families in Transition is naming its
children's room in her honor and 4-year-old Riley, a member of one of the
families, presented her with a vase he and other children decorated for her. See
the video clip below with Riley and the Rev. Gail Murphy. To learn more about
Families in Transition, a group that provides housing and support to homeless
families and individuals, click here.
To see previous postings, click on the dates below:
May 1, 2009
April 17, 2009
April 10, 2009
April 3, 2009
March 6, 2009
February 20, 2009
January 30, 2009
January 23, 2009
January 16, 2009
January 9, 2009
January 2, 2009
