LFDA Editor's Member Post (697)

About half of all states, including Massachusetts, certify specialists in problem gambling. New Hampshire doesn’t. And gambling addict Ed Talbot says substance abuse counselors aren't effective substitutes. The best bet for help in New Hampshire is to find one of the five Gamblers Anonymous meetings. They’re all in the southern part of the state.

As the New Hampshire House prepares to vote on a casino bill this week, NHPR is bringing you a series of stories that look at the…

Despite concluding the House budget has a $300 million hole, the state Senate voted to increase funding for some programs. 

The tentative decisions of state Senate budget writers Monday were met with political head scratching.

They voted to spend more state cash than the House for UNIQUE scholarships and LCHIP while maintaining the same state aid for higher education.

These moves come two weeks after the Senate budget’s chief architect, Senate Finance Chairman Chuck…

New Hampshire could be on its way to joining 18 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing the medical use of marijuana by people with serious illness.

The Senate will vote next week on a heavily amended version of the House passed medical marijuana bill, which among other changes strikes a home grow provision advocates said was crucial to providing timely access for patients who have waited years to use marijuana legally.…

A group of gambling super committee lawmakers has crafted proposed changes to Senate Bill 152 to allow casino gambling in the hopes of winning enough votes in the House to pass the bill when votes are counted next Wednesday.

House members will have to overturn the Joint Finance and Ways and Means Committee recommendation to kill the bill, before the 45-page amendment can come before the House for a vote.

The committee — by a razor-thin 23-22 margin — voted to kill the bill on…

A House super committee voted, 23-22, to recommend killing the Senate-passed bill for a single casino with up to 5,000 slot machines and 150 table games.

The bill’s prime author, Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, said he’s still hopeful that the membership of the full House will reverse the recommendation of the panel to kill the measure.

The House of Representatives could vote on this as soon as next Wednesday.…

The Senate's tax writing committee told the chamber's budget writers Tuesday they have less money to produce a two-year spending plan for New Hampshire than the House or governor used in writing their plans.

The Ways and Means Committee's base estimates are $75 million less than the House from state taxes and $163 million less than what Gov. Maggie Hassan's used to write her budget. Hassan included $80 million from a fee to license a single casino in her budget but neither the Senate…

Senate budget writers are considering restoring funding for services that help keep poor, elderly and disabled New Hampshire residents in their homes.

Associate Health and Human Services Commissioner Nancy Rollins told the Senate Finance Committee on Monday that state funding was eliminated two years ago for support services for people whose incomes are just over the threshold of qualifying for subsidized help.…

A special joint House panel will vote Wednesday whether to support legalizing a casino in New Hampshire.

The House Ways and Means and Finance committees will discuss possible changes to a Senate bill that would allow up to 5,000 video slot machines

Read the full story from WMUR and get more information about gambling in New…

A special House panel said Thursday it would want a bigger profit for New Hampshire if a casino is approved.

The joint House Finance and Ways and Means committees met to discuss research done by three subcommittees into whether New Hampshire should legalize a casino.

The subcommittees made presentations on revenues, regulations and the impact on the state and community if a casino is approved. …

Along party lines, a Senate committee on Wednesday supported on a 3-2 vote changing the current state voter identification law by removing its clear statutory reference to student IDs as an acceptable form of voter ID.

Also Wednesday, the Senate Public and Municipal Affairs Committee voted -- again along partisan lines -- to recommend passage of legislation that addresses the requirements that one needs to meet to register to vote.…

Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte penned an op-ed piece for New Hampshire newspapers, defending her recent vote that blocked the advancement of expanded background checks for gun purchasers.



Her piece is entitled "I voted to improve background check system" and it can be read in full here.



Senators failed, 54 top 46, to reach the 60 votes needed to to advance a bi-partisan proposal to require…

Medical marijuana patients will not be able to grow their own after a Senate committee bowed to Gov. Maggie Hassan’s concerns Tuesday and removed the provisions from the bill.

The Senate Health, Education and Human Services Committee did vote 5-0 Tuesday to recommend the Senate pass House Bill 573, which would allow critically ill patients to use marijuana to ease their symptoms.

While the committee decided to strip the bill of the home grow option, supporters of the provision…

The chairman of New Hampshire's Senate tax-writing committee said Monday he is cautiously optimistic the economy is on a gradual upswing but not at a pace allowing the state to spend at pre-recession rates.

Ways and Means Chairman Bob Odell, a Lempster Republican, estimates growth for each of the next two fiscal years will be 2 percent. But he doesn't buy the estimates from hospital taxes that Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan and the House used to build their budgets. Odell said they are…

The New Hampshire Legislature approaches the stretch drive of the 2013 session with lawmakers knee deep tackling the top three policy debates – the two-year state budget, legalizing a casino and a massive increase in the state’s gasoline tax.

Read the full recap from the Nashua Telegraph.

Gov. Maggie Hassan and the Executive Council designated Friday, May 3, as Old Man of the Mountain Remembrance Day. The day marked the 10th anniversary that the iconic rock formation fell to the ground.

"The Old Man of the Mountain was a beloved icon and source of pride for the people of New Hampshire," Hassan said in a statement. "Though we continue to miss him, the strength and spirit symbolized by the Old Man of the Mountain live on throughout the Granite State."



Read the…

New Hampshire won’t join neighboring Maine and Massachusetts in decriminalizing possession of small amounts marijuana after the Senate rejected what it called a deeply flawed proposal removing criminal penalties for possession of up to a quarter ounce of the drug.

A bill prohibiting the classification of hemp as a controlled substance to be grown for the industrial use of its fibers and seed oil was retained to be studied further.…

More than 100 immigrant families, faith leaders and union members gathered outside the Statehouse on Wednesday for a May Day rally calling on Congress to pass immigration reform measures.

Many held signs and wore T-shirts saying “No human being is illegal.” One family held a sign in Spanish saying, “Keep our families together.”

Read the full story from Seacoast Online, and learn…

A Baylor University economist warned House lawmakers that legalizing a casino in New Hampshire will increase both crime and the influence of the powerful gambling lobby.

Earl Grinols told a House subcommittee studying the community impact of legalizing a casino in the state that there is no way to reverse a decision to legalize casino gambling.

Three House sub-panels are investigating the revenue impact, community impact and regulatory requirements and challenges of…

Senate budget writers turned their attention Monday to the state's biggest agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

The proposed budget for DHHS comes in at just more than $2 billion. It seeks to restore the CHINS program and increase payments to hospitals for uncompensated care.

The budget also lays out $24.5 million over the next two years to shore up the state’s troubled mental health system.…

The expected dismantling of social legislation approved by the Democratically controlled House of Representatives by the Republican-controlled State Senate is likely to dominate action in the New Hampshire Legislature this week.

In addition, House and Senate committees will continue to grind on through the premier topics of the 2013 session – the proposed, $11 billion two-year state budget, and legislation to legalize betting at a single casino in the state.

In this divided…