Vetoes, whether by a governor or president, result from a failure to achieve the compromises that allow government to work and the will of the people to be expressed. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu set a modern record for vetoes this year with 55. Vetoes stop something, advance nothing.
With Democrats controlling both the House and Senate, gubernatorial vetoes were to be expected. But many of the bills Sununu vetoed had bipartisan support and, as in the case of modest bills to reduce gun violence, broad public support as well.
“I’m not out to set a record, but the Democrats have passed so many extreme bills that I’ve been left with no choice,” the governor said. Some bills may have been questionable, but none, in our view, were extreme.
On many fronts, legislative progress in New Hampshire came to a standstill, stopped by one man. His vetoes made him a hero to those who see him as a bulwark against free-spending liberals eager to trample on Second Amendment freedoms. Others see him as an autocrat whose actions show the wisdom of New Hampshire’s founders by granting governors just two years before they must again go before voters.
One of Sununu’s vetoes was his rejection of the biennial budget. That veto was expected. What wasn’t, though all sorts of fiscal clocks were ticking, was his willingness to compromise on the $12.9 billion state budget which, while ducking big issues like a lasting solution to education funding, makes a few modest improvements.
A strong economy left the state with a roughly $200 million budget surplus at the end of the June 30 fiscal year. Though Sununu was loath to support any measure that would create a lasting state obligation, the budget did increase Medicaid reimbursement rates by 3.1%. The increase, though welcome, still means that New Hampshire will pay those who provide health care to the poor the lowest rate in New England. The budget also halved state funding to create a new secure psychiatric facility on the state hospital campus, from $17 million to $8.7 million. That was a compromise Democrats should not have made.
The budget ends the annual reduction in stabilization grants that helped poor school districts survive and, in 2020, will restore the grants in that year and every year thereafter. That will result in a measure of local property tax relief, as will a $40 million one-time bump in state revenue sharing sent to cities and towns.
The governor vetoed the budget, he said, because it called for eliminating a planned reduction in the state’s Business Profits Tax from 7.9% to 7.7%. The two sides compromised by adopting a trigger formula that will lower the rate to 7.5% if revenue from the tax comes in at least 6% above estimates and raise it to 7.9% if the take is at least 6% lower than expected.
That tax rate debate had more to do with partisan politics than fiscal policy. Business tax rates play a small part in corporate decision-making and the trigger mechanism itself is odd. If business tax revenue is down it’s presumably because the economy has slowed, yet the formula calls for raising taxes when business is in a downswing.
At a time when government at many levels is stalled, passing a state budget was an accomplishment made possible by leadership, primarily by Democratic Sen. Lou D’Allesandro and Republican Sen. Jeb Bradley.
And, at long last, by the willingness of our veto-happy governor to compromise.