I wasn’t expecting some of the news this week.

Earlier parts:

Emergency Order Updates

The Governor had his weekly press conference on March 25th.ย  At the press conference, he announced he would extend the State of Emergencyย  and mask order for 21 days.ย  He also extended his travel restrictions.

The Legislature Displeases His Excellency the Governor of New Hampshire

On March 24th, news outlets started running stories that bills restricting the Governor’s emergency powers are part of the budget.

GraniteGrok also ran an op-ed from Andrew Manuse, chairman of ReopenNH, about the development.

This is interesting.ย  New Hampshire budgets on a two year basis.ย  Odd numbered years, like 2021, are budget years.ย  The budget must be finished by June 30th in odd-numbered years.ย  There are two budget bills, HB 1 and HB 2, to work around the state constitution’s prohibition in article 18-a on spending bills amending laws.ย  At the time of this writing, the publicly available text of the bills does not include anything which rewrites the emergency powers laws.

New Hampshire governors do not have a line item veto for the budget.

I’ve heard both HB 1 and HB 2 must pass in order for the state to have a budget.ย  I’m not sure how they are tied together.ย  I ran a quick search for information on government shutdowns in New Hampshire, and I found nothing.

Week of Mar. 29th through Apr. 2nd

The Legislative Administration Committee will have an executive session, which will include a vote on HCR 2.ย  I’ll write about that and whatever else happens next week.