Proposed Supermajority Requirement to Increase Taxes at Odds with Sound Fiscal Policy

The New Hampshire House recently approved a measure, CACR 6, to amend the state’s constitution to require a three-fifths supermajority vote in the House and Senate to increase any news or existing tax or fee or to authorize the issuance of state bonds. The experiences of other states with similar restrictions in place, as well as academic research, suggest that a supermajority requirement would undermine sound fiscal policy. Moreover, given New Hampshire’s historically low level of taxation, such a requirement seems to be a solution in search of a problem.

Testimony on HB1 and the Proposed Closure of NH Healthy Kids

On Thursday, March 10, NHFPI Policy Analyst Deborah Fournier appeared before the House Finance Committee to highlight concerns related to the Governor’s proposal to close the New Hampshire Healthy Kids Corporation and to convert its enrollees into Medicaid enrollees.

“It is unclear whether Medicaid, with no managed care contract and no additional staff, will be able to hold a lower per member per month cost constant in the absence of other utilization and care coordination controls,” Fournier said.

Governor Lynch’s FY 2012-2013 Budget Proposal

On February 15, Governor John Lynch presented his proposed budget for the fiscal year 2012-2013 biennium to the Legislature. Overall, he recommends that the state spend a total of $4.7 billion from General and Education Funds over the next two years, a decline of more than 3 percent relative to anticipated expenditures from these funds, and from federal fiscal relief monies, during the current FY 2010-2011 biennium.

House Ways & Means Revenue Estimates Show Virtually No Growth For FY 2012-2013

The House Way and Means Committee predicts that total General and Education Fund revenue will grow very little, if at all, over the next 30 months. As a result, the Committee’s estimates serve to underscore the role that declining revenues have played in creating New Hampshire’s fiscal difficulties. If the Committee’s estimates come to pass, total General and Education Fund revenue in FY 2013 will reach its lowest level, in inflation-adjusted dollars, since the advent of the Education Fund more than a decade ago.