As we get ready for a busy week in Concord, a number of key bills will come forward. The New Hampshire Health Protection Act, known as Medicaid expansion, passed the House and now comes to the Senate.
The bill will go to Finance with a new wrinkle – the entire Health and Human Services Committee is now a part of Finance – a step that I have not seen in my time in the legislature. This is an example of how important this bill is to the people of New Hampshire at a time when health care costs are rising and the drug problem is at an all-time high.
The heroin problem has taken more than 400 lives and the dealers have filled New Hampshire, as well as many other parts of the country, with cheap heroin and then laced it with fentanyl, a killer drug.
The legislature continues to work on bills that came from the drug task force. These bills must move forward quickly in order to provide needed help to the citizens of our state. The deadline for House bills to come to the Senate and Senate bills to move to the House is two weeks away. The crossover date is March 24. Work must be done in each body; if not, the legislation dies.
The expanded gaming bill will come before the Senate on March 17. The question is: are the votes there to pass? At present, this is unknown. Only time will tell. We do need the money and the jobs. Seventy percent of the population is behind expanded gaming, but where is the legislature?
Sen. Lou D’Allesandro is from Manchester and has represented the people of District 20 for nine terms. For the 2015-2016 legislative session he is Vice Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee and sits on the Finance and Capital Budget Committees. You can reach Sen. D’Allensandro at dalas@leg.state.nh.us.
