The current legislature and governor are pushing us to establish a new government agency to control hospitals by setting prices and overseeing hospital management. Similar bureaucracies have been abandoned in more than thirty states that tried them. That model cannot be replicated here without spending more than $100 million that we don’t have.

The state’s decision to freeze revenue sharing under the Meals and Rooms Tax could endanger the financing for the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester. Last week, Moody’s Investors Services downgraded the bonds used to fund the arena, held by the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority, from Baaa3 to Ba2. The lower rating puts the bonds in “non-investment grade” or “junk bond” status, meaning they have only moderate security of future repayment. Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta notified Governor John Lynch of the decision in a letter on Friday.

Governor John Lynch approved 71 exceptions to his hiring freeze in Fiscal Year 2008, at an annualized cost of nearly $3.9 million, or $464,000 in FY08 alone. Governor Lynch and the committee he charged with reviewing waiver requests approved 74% of agency requests acted upon in FY08. A report submitted in advance of tomorrow’s meeting of the Legislative Fiscal Committee understates both the number and the cost of these waivers.
Of the 104 agency requests to waive the hiring freeze acted upon before the end of the Fiscal Year, 71 were approved and 25 denied, for an approval rate of 74%1. The annualized General Fund cost of salaries and benefits for these positions is $3,877,673. An additional five waiver requests were pushed into Fiscal Year 2009, and will be included in our analysis of that’s year waiver process.

The department of transportation’s list of potential projects to be paid for with the potential federal bailout is compared to the the state’s ten year transportation plan and the “redlist” of bridges to be repaired. Author also suggests two alternatives that would align with already established state priorities.

Frequently Asked Questions about New Hampshire’s New Carbon Cap By Grant Bosse January 2009 What’s RGGI? The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is an agreement among ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to limit carbon dioxide emissions through a mandatory cap-and-trade scheme applying to fossil-fueled power plants.  It is administered through a non-profit corporation, RGGI Inc., which [...]

In each of the last four months, state revenues have fallen further and further behind the amount needed for the state budget. Revenues will end the year at least $91 million behind the budget – and even higher if business taxes also deteriorate. The two year budget shortfall will be between $205 and $258 million.

With one little tax change, New Hampshire can add hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of new jobs to the economy with no net cost to the state budget.

A one percentage point cut to the little-known insurance tax will jumpstart the economy and make New Hampshire a regional center for well-paying financial services jobs. Rarely can a state achieve such dramatic benefits with one small change.

In New Hampshire and all of New England, the biggest threat to economic development that no one knows about is a looming energy crisis but not the one you think of. Everyone talks about the rising cost of gasoline but we are quietly and rapidly running out of electricity and face the threat of rolling blackouts as soon as 2008. New England is producing enough electricity today but the electricity needs of consumers are growing and a thriving economy will make those needs grow even faster. In a few short years, the capacity of existing power plants will no longer be enough to meet demand. Because new plants (and many existing plants) are not economically viable under current structures, the building of new plants has dried up.

Four hundred forty million dollars will consume, for a decade or more, practically every bit of highway money in the state of New Hampshire. Dozens of other projects, equally needed to accommodate growth and enhance safety, will be pushed aside. Most disturbing, a widened I-93 will bring rapid growth to 50 or 60 communities in southern and central New Hampshire, but the $440 million price tag will preclude or delay dozens of local highway improvements needed to accommodate the growth. The result, once you leave the interstate, will be more congestion, more delays, and less safety. If widening I-93 is necessary but dumb as proposed, is there a better alternative?