House passes two-year, $12.9 billion state budget
The message was unavoidable. A few steps from the State House on Thursday sat a tractor, a rusted cart and a hand-painted sign that read, “$417 million in new taxes and fees! ... Will this much manure make money grow on trees?”
The scene, set up by Goffstown Republican John Burt, wasn’t the official position of the House Republican caucus. But as members filed in to take their seats, it might as well have been.
In a strictly party-line vote, the Democratic-led House passed a $12.9 billion, two-year state budget, drawing criticism from Republican Gov. Chris Sununu who said that it would destroy the so-called “New Hampshire Advantage.” The budget, which passed Thursday on a vote of 225-159, included about $500 million more in state spending that Sununu proposed in February.
Democratic House leaders said the proposal focuses on providing property tax relief to towns and cities, boosting education aid and “frontloading” the state’s child protection and mental health systems.
Read more: https://www.concordmonitor.com/House-to-vote-on-two-year-state-budget-24786022