Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Senate President Sharon Carson reached a last-second compromise on the state budget, averting a feared veto, continuing resolution, or special session, NH Journal reports. Both chambers were expected to pass it the next day.
According to NH Journal, the agreement came after intense intraparty negotiation.
After days of heated debate and intraparty elbow throwing, Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Senate President Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) reached a deal on the state budget Wednesday afternoon that is expected to pass both chambers on Thursday.
NH Journal
Ayotte cast the result as a responsible outcome.
“I am pleased we were able to reach a compromise that delivers a fiscally responsible and balanced budget for all of New Hampshire,” Ayotte said in a statement.
NH Journal
The deal traded priorities between the two leaders, NH Journal reports.
However, the deal also includes a $145,000 cap on future retirements to avoid “spiking” — the practice of running up income with overtime and additional work to artificially increase the baseline used to calculate pensions.
NH Journal
It also changed how pensions are calculated.
The deal also changes the formula from the highest three years of income to the highest five years, making it harder to “spike” salaries.
NH Journal
One lawmaker summed up the mood, NH Journal notes.
“It’s a deal nobody’s going to love, but everybody can live with,” one legislator told NHJournal.
NH Journal
House Majority Leader Jason Osborne had hinted on social media that a deal was coming together.
Three days is an eternity in political time. Anything is possible if the right people get together,
Jason Osborne
The compromise headed off a confrontation that many had assumed was inevitable, sparing both chambers a drawn-out standoff and allowing the budget to move toward final passage, NH Journal reports. Sources said the agreement included more money for Group II retirees than the prior committee deal, and the most important feature, by many accounts, was simply that it existed.
The compromise came together late in the process, averting a confrontation that many had assumed was inevitable, NH Journal reports. With both chambers expected to pass the budget the next day, the deal headed off a veto, a continuing resolution, or a special session.
The agreement gave Ayotte more funding for Group II retirees while giving Carson a $145,000 cap on future pensions and a change to the benefit formula designed to curb spiking, according to NH Journal. Sources said the most important feature of the deal, by many accounts, was simply that it existed, sparing the state a prolonged budget standoff.
The last-second deal spared both chambers a drawn-out standoff and allowed the budget to move toward final passage, NH Journal reports. Described by one lawmaker as something nobody would love but everybody could live with, the compromise balanced Ayotte’s priorities for retirees against Carson’s push for limits on future pensions.
The agreement gave Ayotte more funding for Group II retirees while giving Carson a $145,000 cap on future pensions and an anti-spiking change to the benefit formula, NH Journal reports. With both chambers expected to take it up the next day, the compromise averted the veto, continuing resolution, or special session that many in the legislature had assumed was inevitable.
Read the full story at NH Journal.
