Legislative Update: Committee Assignments - January 10, 2025 Windham Independent
Legislative Update - Committee Assignments
I was planning to write about the heated debate around House rules, but for the first time ever, I could not attend a session (excused absence - must isolate while contagious with COVID). So let’s discuss committees instead.
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is starting its 2025 session - committees are starting to meet and bills will start arriving on the House floor. If you are interested in following us, keep track of the House calendar:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/calendars_journals/
The House does most of its work in committee, not on the House floor, so committee hearings are critical when getting involved or monitoring legislative proceedings - please make an effort to testify on bills you feel strongly about.
Remember, while floor debates matter, the fate of many bills is decided by their Committee recommendation/reports (bipartisan committee consensus on bills is rarely overridden).
Last session, the committee seats were evenly tied between Democrat and Republican members. This year, the 221-177 majority means committees will have more Republican members, likely leading to a great reduction in the number of bills coming to the floor without a committee recommendation.
The list of House standing committees (including members lists, assigned bills, etc.) can be found here:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/house/committees/standingcommittees.aspx
The membership of the committees is decided by the House leadership. Representatives can express preferences, but they will be assigned where they are most needed.
Our delegation’s committee assignments are below:
Kuttab: Judiciary
Lynn: Judiciary (Chairman)
McMahon: Children and Family Law
Popovici-Muller: Finance, Division II (Vice-Chairman)
Popovici-Muller: Education Funding
Soti: Ways and Means
They are basically unchanged, except that while I was reassigned to Finance II, I was also assigned to the Education Funding committee. The previous Education committee was split in two separate committees to handle a workload of over 100 bills.
The Finance committee will put together the two year state budget for fiscal years 2026-2027 (July 01, 2025 to June 30, 2027 - January 2025 is the 7th month of the 2025 state budget).
Budget information can be found at https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/lba/
Budget work is split by division: Division III covers Health and Human Services (over 50% of the total budget), Division II covers the UNH/CCSNH, Transportation, Education, Fish & Game, Public Safety, Police Standards and Training and Lottery budgets, while Division I covers over 50 smaller state agencies.
I will continue to work hard to help the Finance committee deliver the best possible budget for our state, while contributing to good Education Funding bills.
Next week, I will update you on the 5 bills I am the prime sponsor of.
I highly encourage any Windham resident to reach out to me at 603 267 4142 (call or text), or dpmwindham@gmail.com (a quick call or text after emailing me would ensure I never miss an email from you) with any questions or concerns about legislative matters.
Daniel Popovici-Muller
Windham State Representative