Hassan threatens budget veto
House and Senate budget writers are putting the final touches on a 2016-2017 budget bill, but Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) is threatening to veto the bill without some changes.
Hassan wants to add two expenditures to the budget: a pay raise negotiated with state employees and reauthorization of expanded Medicaid. The pay raise would cost an estimated $12 million. Continuing expanded Medicaid eligibility would also cost $12 million.
Rather than spend on those items, the House and Senate budget cuts business taxes. Budget writers anticipate $90 million less in revenue from business taxes in 2017.
If the Governor vetoes the budget bill, lawmakers would likely draft a resolution to temporarily continue 2015 budget appropriations. That would give budget writers the summer to work on a revised bill.
The last Governor to veto a budget was Craig Benson (R) in 2003.
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