House Approves Medicaid Expansion; Sustains Hassan Vetoes

Representatives began the 2014 session sustaining the governor’s vetoes from last year and tussling over and passing Medicaid expansion again on its first day.

After testing out Representatives Hall’s new voting machinery, legislators voted to sustain three of Gov. Maggie Hassan’s July 2013 vetoes including an absentee ballot processing bill, a committee to study end-of-life decisions, and changes to the Economic Development Advisory Council.

The ballot bill would have allowed voting clerks to process absentee ballots anytime during the day, two hours after polls closed. The governor believed that there wasn’t enough notification transparency in the bill. State Rep. Gary Richardson, D-Hopkinton, who also represents Concord’s Ward 5, advocated not overriding the governor’s veto, saying the bill would be fixed later in the year and returned to House. Advocates, like state Rep. James Belanger, R-Hollis, said approving the law and amending it later would be the best course of action.

On the end-of-life study committee, state Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, requested the override, noting that the legal and medical worlds were constantly changing and the complex issue of living and dying needed to be discussed.

“There were no pre-conditions in this study committee,” she said, “it’s only a study committee.” 

In the end, all three vetoes were sustained. 

Medicaid expansion approved

After a lunch break, the House started the 2014 session, and approved, by consent, committee recommendations on a number of bills, including the rejection of a section for promotion of domestic wines and liquors at the New Hampshire State Liquor outlets, a study committee to examine fuel invoice notifications as well as credit card fees, and clarification of the definition of push-polling.

After approving a bill that would raise the age of juvenile delinquency proceedings from 17 to 18, representatives began discussing a bill that proposed repealing the prohibition of a state-based health exchange, which was voted “inexpedient to legislate” by a 20-0 vote. A yes vote for the bill would have sustained the prohibition.

However, a 12-page amendment offered by state Rep. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, two days before essentially changed the meaning of the bill as a vote for Medicaid expansion in New Hampshire.

Republicans in the House were outraged, saying that the amendment had not had a public hearing, that they hadn't had time to analyze the amendment, and it changed the committee recommendation.

State Rep. Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, requested sections 1 through 8 of the bill to be divided from the bill, a proposal that was rejected by 23 votes.

State Rep. George Lambert, R-Litchfield, called for a committee of the whole hearing on the amendment, essentially allowing the entire House to hold a committee hearing, which was rejected by House Speaker Terie Norelli, D-Portsmouth. Lambert requested a challenge to the rejection and that was also shot down. 

A vote on the recommendation of the bill – which was inexpedient to legislate – was rejected by 13 votes and a new motion for approval was made and approved by 28 votes.

After the vote, House and Senate Republicans attacked the decision. 

Former House Speaker Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, said there was no need to force the issue, since the 2014 session had another bill to address Medicaid expansion later this year.

“Whether or not you agree with this Obamacare Medicaid expansion proposal, attaching such an expansive piece of legislation to an unrelated bill is not the right way to approach any issue, much less something of this scale,” he said in a statement. “House members had less than 2 days to read through an analyze this proposal, which in our opinion, differs significantly from what the House Democrats passed in November. This is not how we should do things in New Hampshire. Process is vital to the integrity of what we do.”

State Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradly, R-Wolfeboro, called the move an extension of the “political attacks (that) undermined the opportunity for bi-partisan cooperation to help low income New Hampshire citizens obtain private health insurance” earlier previously.

“The decision by House Democrats to fast-track without a public hearing Washington’s ObamaCare entitlement expansion again undermines the opportunity for bi-partisan cooperation on what is a very complex and costly issue,” he said.

Democrats, however, praised the approval decision.

Norelli said it was a move to promote a stronger economy and fill a critical need in the state.

“We took this action after extended deliberation over the past year including four public hearings, a thorough commission report, two affirmative votes of the House and in recognition of the urgency for our citizens and state,” she said in a statement. “We welcome the State Senate to take this opportunity to continue the discussion and negotiations that promptly achieve passage of a workable plan to expand Medicaid eligibility."

Hassan also commended the move by the House saying it would help secure health coverage for thousands of Granite Staters.

“By not moving forward with Medicaid expansion, the State of New Hampshire has already lost nearly $4 million in federal funds this year, and for every day that we continue to delay, we will lose at least another half-a-million federal dollars that we can never recover and thousands of working families continue to go without the health coverage they need,” she said. “Reaching a constructive compromise on a workable plan that allows New Hampshire to accept $2.4 billion in federal funds to expand Medicaid will strengthen the health and financial well-being of more than 50,000 hard-working people while boosting our economy and creating hundreds of jobs.”

The move was a juxtaposition on the part of both parties when considering a similar move made in the House nearly two years ago.

At that time, the Republican-controlled House voted to attach a 24-hour abortion waiting period bill as amendment to a research and development tax credit bill after the state Senate rejected the abortion bill. Democrats, however, pounced on the decision, with similar criticism that Republicans have now leveled at Democrats over Medicaid expansion.