For state, a $110 million question

Daniel Barrick recaps the JUA Lawsuit in the Concord Monitor, and examines what would happen if the state loses the $110 million it seized to balance the state budget.

"Am I concerned? You bet," House Speaker Terie Norelli said last week. "But am I afraid we're about to get knocked off a cliff? Not at all. There is not an immediate crisis."

Still, others say the tensions that accompanied last week's layoff announcement barely hint at the difficult decisions that will be necessary if the state loses its claim to the malpractice money. Some, including Republicans in the Legislature, are calling for Lynch to offer specific plans now in preparation for that outcome.

"Frankly, a hole of the magnitude we're talking about is going to require a top-to-bottom re-evaluation of the budget. You can't just tweak here and there," said Charlie Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Concord. "The difficulties get worse the longer you delay."

Top lawmakers join in backing taking

Kevin Landrigan reports in the Nashua Telegraph on the Amicus Brief filed last week by Democratic legislative leaders in the JUA Lawsuit.

Among the legal arguments was the assertion that taking the money from the Joint Underwriting Association was not simply to balance the two-year state budget but to preserve state programs that make health care more accessible.

Lawyers for Lakes Region Hospital, Derry Medical Center and Dr. Georgia Tuttle had characterized using the surplus as a “money grab.” “There is nothing superficial about what is at stake, and that it can be asserted the public policy interests involved are more than merely financial ones,” Frydman wrote.

Senate Republican Leader Peter Bragdon, of Milford, saw no point in GOP opponents of this JUA move preparing their legal arguments.

“There are plenty of capable parties making our assertion we first made early on that taking this money was in violation of the state Constitution,” Bragdon said.

Speaker, Senate President file briefs seeking to take JUA Funds

House Speaker Terie Norelli and Senate President Sylvia Larsen today filed an amicus brief with the New Hampshire Supreme Court siding with the state's appeal that it should be allowed to confiscate surplus premiums paid into the Joint Underwriting Association.

Their argument can be justly boiled down to this: "We're the government, and we can spend the money better than you." Of course, you can read the entire brief for yourself.

Speaker- Senate President- Amicus Brief- 10-2-09

Susan's secret: Pitching an income tax

The Union Leader is not surprised that long-time income tax supporters are laying the groundwork for an income tax.

This year her committee recommended, and she advocated, an estate tax and a capital gains tax. She's spent years searching for ways to raise taxes on Granite Staters. That she's organizing the summit is worrisome. That she deliberately kept it a secret because, she acknowledges, she didn't want the income tax information to get out, is troubling.

House Speaker Terie Norelli, who voted for an income tax in 1999, says not to fret. She admits that the income tax will be on the table during the summit, but she notes that Gov. John Lynch has pledged to veto it, so it's off the table in the Legislature. So why not take it off the table at the summit, then? If it's really not an option, why consider it?

The answer, obviously, is that they are considering it, and they hope to convince enough legislators to support it that Lynch's veto won't matter.

Travel Spending Rises

Yesterday, Kevin Landrigan noted in his Nashua Telegraph column that the travel budget for the New Hampshire House has jumped quite a bit despite limits on out-of-state travel in the Executive Branch.

Norelli defended the fact that despite the economic downturn, spending on legislative travel went up by about $25,000 over the last year.

Norelli noted that while travel budgets may have grown smaller in other states, those lawmakers get hefty salaries, compared with the $100 annual pay here, and they have large campaign war chests from which they can finance junkets.

The Portsmouth Democrat also noted that since she has taken over the House, she has made sure that the majority party didn't dominate the taxpayer-financed journeys. Republicans aren't getting half the travel money, but it's more than 40 percent of what's been spent, which is in keeping with their representation in the Legislature.

By contrast, several of Norelli's predecessors made a career out of doling out nearly all of the travel money to members of their own party.

Well, as long as everyone is spending our money for out-of-state travel, I guess that makes it alright.

Shhh, they're talking income tax

Tom Fahey leads his "Under the State House Dome" column in the Union Leader with more details on the Economic Summit that longtime income tax supporters Terie Norelli and Susan Almy are putting together, which they say will be about so much more than the income tax.

Norelli said the best time to look at the revenue landscape is when lawmakers don't have a budget gun pointed at their heads.

"It's an opportunity for us to take a look at all our taxes and fees. Do they help or hurt the economy, or are they neutral? What's good for economic development and what's bad? They will be hearing from economists on a national and state level on the right and on the left and, hopefully, in between, and there won't be any recommendation coming out of it. It's strictly giving people information," Norelli said.

Fahey notes that the House has held onto an income tax bill for further study. This bill could easily serve as the Legislative vehicle for any tax "reform" ideas coming out of Norelli's tax summit.

Fahey also updates the stalled contract talks between the state and the SEA, and has lots of political stuff.

Norelli upset at Income Tax Backlash

House Speaker Terie Norelli is hitting at critics who disliked her telling the Portsmouth Herald that she was open to all options for the New Hampshire budget, including an income tax. The Herald gets Norelli's reaction.

On Friday, she continued to maintain that such a broad-based look at revenue would be helpful.

“It's prudent to gather as much information as possible about everything we're doing outside of the pressure and constraints of budget gathering,” she said. “That includes everything, except for gambling because there's an independent commission looking at gambling. Why would anybody be afraid of looking at everything to see whether it's good or bad for our economy? It's irresponsible not to.”

She said she's upset with Republicans for what she seeks as grasping at straws. “They've got me conjuring up new taxes for the public,” she said. “They're making me look like an evil witch. They've been given every opportunity to participate in the process. For them to put out there that I'm going to be putting out an income tax is nothing more than a cheap political trick.”

Terie Norelli is an income-tax supporter. She's voted for it in the past, and been quite eloquent about what she sees as a lack of steady revenue for the workings of New Hampshire government. When asked by the Herald about the possibility of an income tax, she could have said many things.

She could have said that she used to support one, but know thinks it's a bad idea.

She could have said that as long as John Lynch is Governor, there is no prospect for an income tax.

She could have simply said that the House will not be considering an income tax when it returns.

She did not. She left the door open to all options, including the one she's voted for in the past. It is not unreasonable to conclude that Speaker Norelli continues to support an income tax, and that the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by income tax supporter Rep. Susan Almy, will report favorably on the idea this fall.

Speaker Norelli was asked if the Legislature would consider an income tax to balance the state budget. She could have said no. She choose not to, and now wishing us to ignore those words.

Norelli's mention of a state income tax alarms conservatives

If Terie Norelli's comments opening the door to an income tax was intended as a way to discuss New Hampshire's tax structure, I guess it worked. Tom Fahey reports in the Union Leader ron the immediate backlash to Norelli's pro-income tax article in the Portsmouth Herald.

Several Republican groups jumped on the remark as evidence that Norelli and other Democrats are ready to pass a tax they predict will damage the fragile economy. The phrase "out of touch with New Hampshire voters" appeared in a number of press releases criticizing Norelli.

Norelli, D-Portsmouth, said yesterday her remarks came during a discussion of a planned legislative review of the effect state tax policy has on its economy.

"I said I think we're looking at everything -- this is to look at all taxes and fees, existing and not existing," Norelli said.

House Speaker opens door to Income Tax

In an editorial board interview with the Portsmouth Herald, House Speaker Terie Norelli says that she's open to an income tax to fix New Hampshire's budget problems.

Looking toward the future, she said, "I'm open minded to taking a look at revenue structure in the state," including an income tax, she told the Herald editorial board on Wednesday. An economic summit will be held in Concord this fall "to try to figure out whether the way we do things in New Hampshire is working" — and all revenue sources would be on the table.

Norelli also defends the $11.5 billion state budget passed in June, which included 38 tax and fee increases and boosted total state spending by over $1 billion. She also expects the state to win its appeal in the Joint Underwriting Association case.