While the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted on a budget for the next fiscal year last Thursday, 2,500 demonstrators rallied outside the State House in Concord, N.H., to protest cuts to social programs. Despite the opposition, the Republican-dominated House approved the budget, which includes cuts to a majority of government-funded health care programs that would impact local institutions such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, State Rep. Sharon Nordgren, D-Grafton, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The House proposed a $10.2 billion budget, which is $500 million less than the budget Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., designated in February, according to Sen. Matthew Houde '91, D-Grafton.
Irresponsible government spending created the current deficit situation, State Rep. Harry Accornero, R-Belknap, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"The reason that we have to make such cuts is the last four-year spending spree," he said. "The party's over."
Under the proposed budget, hospitals throughout New Hampshire that provide free health care to the poor will suffer $115 million in cuts to their compensation from the state, according to Nordgren. Since DHMC provides the most uncompensated care of any New Hampshire hospital, it will experience the most dramatic cuts in its public funding, she said.
"Compensation to DHMC will be cut [by] $57 million," she said. "They had never been compensated fully for the free care they provide, but this cut is more than anyone could expect them to absorb without the hospital cutting its [other] programs."
Due to proposed cuts to alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs, sexual assault programs, mental health services and other health programs, the demand for uncompensated emergency care is expected to increase, Nordgren said. This change increases hospitals' financial burden, according to Nordgren.
New Hampshire's university system will experience $45 million in cuts as a result of the House's proposed budget, but this will have a minimal effect on Dartmouth since the College is a private institution, Nordgren said.
The proposed cuts mirror budget adjustments made in recent years, according to Shannon Shutts, press secretary to Speaker of the House William O'Brien, R-Hillsborough.
"Every program in every department saw cuts, but I wouldn't say that they are drastic," she said. "I have heard the 2007 and 2009 budgets were used as models."
Nordgren said the House agreed upon the proposed cuts as a way to avoid raising citizens' taxes.
The cuts to various public health programs have sparked widespread opposition among several advocacy groups, Nordgren said.
"There has been a lot going on in Concord with various groups trying to lobby the Senate to revoke cuts," she said.
The proposed House bill is likely to change, as the State Senate Finance Committee voted on several provisions soon after the House approved the budget, according to Nordgren.
"Things are in flux as we speak and will be changing daily," she said.
Although the Senate has discussed preserving several state-funded programs including those that provide mental health services the state may not have enough revenue to minimize the proposed cuts, Nordgren said.
Houde, however, expressed optimism that such services will be preserved.
"I am hopeful that the Senate will come out with a budget that replaces some of the funding for mental health and developmental disabilities services," he said.
Houde said he expects the Senate budget to resemble the House proposal more than Lynch's proposal in regard to budgetary cuts.
The budget proposed by the House includes House Bill 1 which details the allocations of funds and the cutting of programs and House Bill 2, which contains legislation that allows for certain cuts to be made, according to Nordgren.
The House included a controversial section in House Bill 2 that effectively ends collective bargaining by giving the employer the right to end an employee's contract if the two reach an impasse in negotiations, Nordgren said. The Senate will scrutinize this policy and others in House Bill 2 that are not addressed in House Bill 1, Houde said.
"One of the big differences you'll see in the Senate budget is changes to [House Bill 2], which has a bunch of policy issues in it the Senate is committed to taking out a majority of those," he said. "It is inappropriate to have policy bills like the one that does away with collective bargaining in the budget, and there will be a separate hearing for that alone."
Accornero said that although he expects the amount of cuts to remain static after the Senate votes on the budget, nothing will be finalized until "the last second." The amount of new revenue that arrives will determine whether the state government can add funds or is forced to drastically cut additional programs, he said.
The Senate will hold two hearings regarding the House budget on Thursday, according to Houde. The Senate will vote on a complete budget in early June, Nordgren said. If this version differs from the House proposal, a Committee of Conference composed of five or six members from each body will develop a budget agreeable to both sides.
Although Lynch may veto provisions in the budget, both the House and the Senate have the two-thirds Republican supermajority to override a veto, Nordgren said. The budget must be approved by the House and Senate by July 1, the first day of the new fiscal year.
"The big fight will be at the end of June," she said. "Senate and House leadership don't get along."
Rick Adams, director of media relations at DHMC, did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
