New Links from 3/16 meeting

Hello all -

We had another great meeting and I wanted to post some links to the materials that were discussed.
This is the link to the reports that were presented on the lack of progress on the 10 year mental health plan.

This is the link to the article and video outlining Councilor Burton’s position on the Medicaid care Management Contract.

Also – it appears that the  health care compact bill to headed to study.

Quoting from the Lobby – “A bill to create an interstate health care compact, which received overwhelming support among GOP House members, was voted to be placed into study committee Tuesday.

More to come – see you in two weeks and please if you have anything to share – just let me know!

Information from Josiette White’s presentation – 2/17

Hi all -

These are the promised supporting materials from Josiette White.

They include: the existing Existing State Senate District Map , the Proposed House Districts as of 2/16, and the General Redistricting Information she presented at the NH CARES meeting on February 17, 2012. I am also attaching pasting below .jpg of the new State Senate Districts. Please feel free to contact America Votes for more information. Hope to see you at our meetings – the first and third Friday of the month!

Hello all -

We had our first meeting and everything went very well – we will be handling our meetings a little bit differently this year. We are really trying to focus on educating ourselves, and about half of each meeting will involve a presentation to the membership followed by Q&A. We will still have time for sharing our regular updates and strategies as well.

We would love to hear from you as to what topics you would like us to cover. Click here to reply to our survey and give your input!

Thanks again – we will see you on February 3rd at the Walker Building where Jeff McLynch from New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute will update us and the current trends in revenues and upcoming revenue bills.

NH CARES is reconvening for the 2012 session

Hello all -

Welcome back! We are going to be meeting again for the session. The format will be a bit different – more about trying to get us ready for the next budget cycle, however there will still be ample time for sharing what is happening with our individual agencies.

The DD Council had again agreed to host us so all meetings, with the exception of our first meeting will be held on the second floor of Walker Building on the first and third Friday of the month.  The first meeting on January 20, 2012 will be held at Granite State Independent Living at 21 Chenell Drive, Concord. We will be meeting at 8:30 for informal chat and the official meeting will begin at 9AM.

I look forward to seeing you on Friday  – the full list of meeting dates is listed below!  We are also open to any suggestions to make the meetings more effective so please let us know any thoughts or ideas you have that will help to make NH CARES stronger than ever.

Best,
Christina

NH CARES 2012 Full Meeting schedule
1/20/12  9-10AM DD Council, GSIL, 21 Chenell Drive
2/3/12    9-10AM DD Council, Walker Building
2/17/12  9-10AM DD Council, Walker Building
3/2/12    9-10AM DD Council, Walker Building
3/16/12  9-10AM DD Council, Walker Building
4/6/12    9-10AM DD Council, Walker Building
4/20/12  9-10AM DD Council, Walker Building

And – it’s over

The House and Senate have reached agreement and approved HB1 and HB2. Contents of which should be available soon on the General Court website. It is our understanding that this will include the increases to HHS previously agreed as well as the decrease in the tobacco tax. There is no longer any projected surplus in the budget. The conferees have seen fit to fun a decrease in cigarette taxes at the expense of NH’s most vulnerable citizens.

6/16 – Committee of Conference stalled

Near agreement on nearly all of HB1 and HB2, it appears that negotiations broke down over the proposed tobacco tax reduction.  The Concord Monitor summarized the situation with some strong comments from Senate Finance Chair Chuck Morse – “I want to make it perfectly clear the Senate is totally offended by the actions of leadership in the House,” Morse said. “I think that when we’ve made a deal and we have and we’ve worked through it for over 24 hours – your leadership in this committee has been very respectful . . . and I know there’s been difficult moments. But to come into the last hour and want to change everything and basically hold the state of New Hampshire hostage.”

What happens next? Who can say? The agreed text had preserved the programs restored by the Senate to date – we need to keep the pressure on.

Information from the Council of Churches

Hello all -

In a recent email I mentioned the Faithful Budget Accountability Project being directed by the NH Council of Churches. They are hoping to help document the results of budget cuts as a result of deep state budget cuts for the next biennium.

They are asking if your church is really equipped to take up the slack of extreme cuts to government programs and services for the poor and vulnerable?

The NH Council of Churches wants to understand, quantify, and communicate to legislators the human impact of budget cuts made in the name of efficiency and living within our means by January 2,2012.

The Faithful Budget Accountability Project will begin on July 1 – a simple, monthly electronic data collection of religious human service information and stories.

Please urge your church or faith-based social ministry leaders to participate in this important project!

For a detailed explanation of the Faithful Budget Accountability Project go to www.nhchurches.org.

To participate or for more info, contact Laurel Redden, NHCC Public Policy Associate at Laurel@nhchurches.org or (603) 425-3855 (cell).

Update from the CoC

Hello all -

The CoC continues to meet and will continue to do so for the rest of the week. They will continue to negotiate a compromise position to be put before both houses. The Committee is supposed ot report out on June 16. We anticipate that they will be meeting every day this week. Live streaming is available on the NH General Court website - http://gencourt.state.nh.us/