State House Dome: Young GOP turks move up

Dec. 23—HOUSE SPEAKER Sherman Packard is promoting two young Republicans to lead new special committees that he hopes will break policy logjams.

State Rep. Joe Alexander, R-Goffstown, will head the new committee on housing, and Rep. Ross Berry, R-Manchester, will lead a new panel on child care.

Packard tapped veteran Rep. Tom Dolan, R-Londonderry, to lead a third committee, which is charged with evaluating the future of hundreds of state commissions that still are on the books.

Gov. Chris Sununu had made Alexander one of his lead bipartisan advocates for a 2022 housing package that — for the most part — crashed and burned.

The reason? Sweeping housing reforms have long failed before the House Municipal and County Government Committee because current or past local officials dominate the membership and have resisted changes to make it easier for developers to win approval of projects.

The key will be what allies Alexander has on his committee, whose 10 members, as on the other new committees, will be split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

Berry, who already has proved to Packard's team that he's a results-oriented conservative, will have no easy lift either.

Historically, child care issues get splintered among many committees that fight over jurisdiction, including Children and Family Law on child abuse, Executive Departments and Administration over licensing and Commerce over commercial regulation of the industry.

Inaugural is set

Sununu will give his fourth inaugural address at noon on Jan. 5 in historic Representatives Hall.

The day begins early with the traditional breakfast for state employees in the Executive Council chambers.

After Sununu's speech, his family and top legislative leaders hold a receiving line. Then at 3:30 p.m. the Executive Council has a brief meeting to take its first ceremonial actions of the new year.

Sununu quipped that New Hampshire Lottery Executive Director Charlie McIntyre has set the over/under bet for the inaugural address at "27 minutes."

"I really put too many people to sleep back in 2019," Sununu said of that speech, which went over an hour.

Room for budget writers

Packard has decided to give budget writers a little more time to get their difficult job done next spring.

The proposed deadlines the full House will vote on early next month make clear the House Finance Committee gets to create its own deadline for reporting a proposed budget to the House floor.

In 2021, the drop-dead date for that was April 1.

"We wanted to give the committee up to an extra week to get their work done," Packard said.

The House will have to pass the budget and all other bills by April 6. The crossover date in 2021 was April 8.

The new schedule moves back by about a week House deadlines for acting on Senate bills as well as the final budget and other compromises.

In 2021, the last day to pass the budget was June 24. In 2023, it would be June 29, right on the eve on the end of the two-year budget cycle.

Sununu, House GOP feud

Sununu didn't hide his displeasure with Packard's decision to reappoint Rep. Ken Weyler, R-Kingston, to chair the House Finance Committee.

Packard asked for and got Weyler to step aside in October 2021 after Weyler shared misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

"It's a terrible move," Sununu told Chris Ryan of New Hampshire Today. "We drove him off the committee a year ago."

Weyler isn't backing down. He's vowed to continue to question vaccines and said he left in 2021 because of the "Democratic smear machine."

"He is an unreasonable egoist," Weyler told the New Hampshire Bulletin about Sununu. "Everything has to be his own way."

Packard said Weyler paid his penalty and deserved the House budget leadership role back after the defeat of former chairman Karen Umberger, R-Conway, in November.

Managed care costs rise

The council approved a price hike for the largest state contract, which pays the three insurers that administer managed care services under the Medicaid program.

Over the life of the 1,500-page contract the total spend could approach $6 billion, according to state officials.

Medicaid Director Henry Lippman said much of the $245 million increase stems from the continuing COVID-19 public health emergency.

Once the emergency ends, Sununu said the state could save as much as $25 million a month when as many as 55,000 who enrolled during the pandemic come off the program.

The contracts also got bumped up to reflect state changes to Medicaid benefits, including dental coverage for adults.

The agreement did not change the administrative fees paid to vendors despite their desire to raise them, Lippman said.

They remain at 7.6% for standard Medicaid and 8.3% for the population of low-income adults served under Medicaid Expansion.

"Most states are paying higher administrative costs. We are not," Sununu said.

These contracts run through August 2024. In the coming session, the Legislature will review whether to change the Medicaid service model for the future.

Reardon recalled fondly

Political friends and foes alike admired the late Judy Reardon as a fierce and loyal defender of both her favorite causes and candidates, starting with U.S. Sen. and former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

At the State House, Reardon was someone who didn't pull punches but kept her word even if that meant the goal became harder to achieve.

Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley of Manchester depended on Reardon for her wise counsel and political advice.

"Judy Reardon played a critical role in so many people's political and personal lives. Her ability to properly assess a situation and immediately create a successful path forward was astonishing," Buckley said.

"Judy was the guiding force behind the scenes in so much of New Hampshire these past four decades it couldn't fit in just one book if it was written."

Buckley said her death leaves a void.

"I never had a conversation with Judy where I didn't learn something," Buckley said.

Ombudsman named

The Executive Council confirmed Sununu's choice of Concord lawyer Thomas Kehr to be the state's first Right-to-Know ombudsman.

Kehr has worked for two decades in the Department of Administrative Services on procedures and had experience with the open records law as a private attorney.

He will be paid $100,250 a year.

The Legislature created the office, which gives those with right-to-know disputes the option to ask the ombudsman to hear from both sides rather than take it to superior court.

The law sets up the office to be repealed in 2025 unless the Legislature acts to renew it.

Two promotions

The council promoted longtime Department of Transportation executive David Rodrigue of Sanbornton to become assistant commissioner, replacing Bill Cass of Laconia, who replaced outgoing Commissioner Victoria Sheehan in the top spot.

Rodrigue, who will earn just under $138,000 annually, will have the post through February 2026.

Michael Moranti of Bedford is the new deputy banking commissioner, succeeding Raeleen Blaisdell of Dover, who resigned. Moranti makes $111,000 a year and fills an unexpired term that ends Aug. 1, 2024.

Bid to blunt speeches fails

State Reps. Andrew Prout, R-Hudson, and Jess Edwards, R-Auburn, tried and failed to convince the House Rules Committee to eliminate the use of session-ending speeches to score partisan points.

When the House concludes each session, members can ask for unanimous consent to address the body. Legislators most commonly use this to mark a special occasion in the state or country or to commemorate the work of an individual.

On occasion, some have deployed it to lodge a personal or political grievance.

At that point, any House member can withdraw their consent and the speech then only continues with a majority vote.

Prout and Edwards wanted to raise that threshold to a two-thirds majority.

"This would create a mutually assured-destruction situation," Edwards said.

House Speaker Emeritus Steve Shurtleff, D-Penacook, said that's too big a barrier to free speech.

"A two-thirds is an awful high barrier to try and get permission to speak," Shurtleff said.

The rules panel agreed, rejecting the proposal, 9-0.

ACLU sets policy priorities

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire next month will launch a website that tracks progress on its legislative agenda in 2023-2024.

Policy Director Frank Knaack said top issues next year include defending and improving the state's bail reform law, legalizing the sale of marijuana for recreational use and creating a state action that could end the qualified immunity state and local governments may claim in cases of law enforcement misconduct.

Kevin Landrigan is State House Bureau Chief of the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. Reach him at klandrigan@unionleader.com.