CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Republican Gov. Chris Sununu proposed a $12.1 billion state budget Thursday that includes more money for full-day kindergarten, services for people with developmental disabilities and tackling the state’s opioid abuse crisis.
Sununu presented his budget plan to lawmakers, offering the first concrete look at his priorities as New Hampshire’s new governor. Democrats and Republicans alike are complimenting several of his proposals, but cautioning that the Legislature will surely make changes to the two-year spending document. A final budget must be passed by the end of June.
“We’re going to have different priorities in some areas, and we want to work with the governor to help accomplish the same type of goals perhaps in a different way,” GOP House Speaker Shawn Jasper said. “But we’re pleased with the start.”
Sununu listed improving job growth, increasing opportunity for New Hampshire’s children and improving the state’s safety as his top goals with the budget. The $12.1 billion plan is up from the current $11.3 billion, but it raises no taxes or fees.
Democrats, while happy with some of Sununu’s proposals, noted the governor declined to mention Medicaid expansion in his speech. Roughly 50,000 New Hampshire residents have health care through the program, but its future is uncertain.
“He has been silent as to the state’s role in how we’re going to move forward with this,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Woodburn said.
Sununu’s budget doesn’t increase the university system’s budget, which will likely prevent a tuition freeze for students in the upcoming school years. Instead, he’s increasing money for the community college system and creating a $5 million college scholarship fund, although he offered no specifics on how the money would be awarded.
Whether or not Sununu would provide funding for full-day kindergarten programs was the topic of much speculation prior to the address. His budget adds $18 million for districts with full-day kindergarten, targeting the money toward schools with a high number of low-income students, English language learners or a limited property tax base.
“I’ve heard from many young parents that this is a priority of theirs,” Sununu said.
Sununu also declared it a “moral obligation” to improve the state’s child services agency, which is under scrutiny following several high profile child deaths and an outside review that found it is understaffed. Sununu called for “new leadership” and said his budget hires more workers for the agency, although he didn’t offer specifics.
Sununu’s decision to provide $57 million more for services for people with developmental disabilities is also receiving bipartisan praise, and his office says it marks the largest increase for such services in recent history. New Hampshire adults living with developmental disabilities, such as brain damage, are entitled to services from the state, but many are on a waiting list due to a lack of money.
On the drug crisis, Sununu plans to add 10 new state troopers focusing on drug interdiction and to increase the state’s alcohol fund by roughly $3 million. That’s less than the amount prevention, treatment and recovery advocates had called for, offering a point of criticism for Democrats. Sununu’s budget also includes hiring a new prevention, treatment and recovery specialist to work alongside the state’s “drug czar,” tasked with managing New Hampshire’s response to the crisis.
Elsewhere, Sununu is proposing to place economic development activities under a new department called the Department of Business and Economic Affairs, to include money to staff and open the women’s prison in Concord, and to use some surplus money to help towns repair their infrastructure.
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