State House to take on drugs, guns, money in 2017

Jan. 01--Gazing into the crystal ball, some things about 2017 are fairly easy to predict, others less certain, and then, in the words of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, there are the "unknown unknowns."

While those unknowns may prove to be the most spectacular events of the year ahead, here are some fairly safe predictions about what lies ahead.

The opioid battle drags on

It took months in Concord and years in Washington, but 2016 was finally the year elected officials endorsed spending more money to address the soaring rate of overdoses from heroin and abuse of prescription painkillers.

2017 will be the year to decide how best to spend those dollars.

Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., said it will be a few months before New Hampshire knows precisely how much the state will receive from $500 million in grants given out under the federal 21st Century Cures Act that the Congress passed last month.

She intends to host meetings of stakeholders throughout her 2nd Congressional District to devise a plan for the money.

"One of the best things about the Cures Act is it defers to the states to craft their own strategies for dealing with their crisis," Kuster said. "That's very important because states have not only different demographics but also differing levels of treatment capacity."

Outgoing Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said she hopes much of the money in this state goes toward rebuilding a treatment network that back in the 1970s to mid-1980s was extensive.

"We used to have a few dozen treatment programs existing in the state and now we are down to a handful," Ayotte said. "This has to be built up if we're really going to address this problem."

State Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, said one approach he's committed to trying to develop more of in New Hampshire is longer-duration treatment.

"That's what most people don't get about this epidemic. You can't detox your way out of this problem. You've got to create a network that provides long-term treatment because that's the only predictable way to bring about addiction recovery that will last."

This spring, local police departments also will be applying for a piece of more than $2 million in grants under the state's opioid strategy to expand the so-called Granite Hammer crackdown on drug sellers across New Hampshire.

"We hear often that law enforcement alone won't solve this problem and that's true. But you've got to cut off the supply of drugs and that's where Granite Hammer comes in," said Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, during a recent interview.

Democratic delegation

The 2016 election was a good-news, bad-news event for New Hampshire Democrats.

Their bad news was, of course, the first Republican governor elected since 2002 and an all-GOP-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives, state Senate and Executive Council.

The good news was that for the first time the Democrats had secured all four seats in the state's congressional delegation led by Gov. Maggie Hassan's narrow win over Ayotte and replacing Congressman Frank Guinta, R-N.H., with former Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter, a Rochester Democrat.

Looking forward, the challenge these leaders have is how will they accomplish much with Republicans still in charge of all levers of power on Capitol Hill and a new President Donald Trump?

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said she's familiar with dealing with GOP control in the Senate and also going back to when she was New Hampshire's governor with a GOP-led Legislature and a state senator in a Republican-dominated chamber.

"I think there will be issues on which we find common ground," Shaheen said during a recent interview. "The opioid crisis is a good example where we came together in a bipartisan way to get things done. I am hoping this next administration follows through on its campaign commitment to deal with this nationwide epidemic."

U.S. Sen.-elect Hassan said Trump spoke often about his support for spending more to fix the nation's ailing infrastructure.

Hassan has some experience in that front as well having been the Democratic governor who signed the first increase in the state's gasoline tax in more than 20 years, given to her by a Republican-led Legislature.

"There's a lot on this nation's plate when it comes to making infrastructure investments," Hassan said.

Tighter-than-expected state budget

During her Senate campaign, Hassan often boasted about her record for fiscal responsibility, topped by a $130 million state budget surplus as of last June 30.

But Gov.-elect Chris Sununu confirmed to The New Hampshire Union Leader recently that much of that surplus has already been spoken for.

A good chunk of it automatically went in to replenish the state's Rainy Day Fund that's legally created to deal with financial emergencies.

Sununu said much of the rest is already spoken for to deal with higher-than-budgeted spending in the Department of Health and Human Services and for health-care insurance of retired state workers.

"We have to be responsible," Sununu said. "It's not dire, we just re-emphasize the need for good management and that's kind of my specialty."

The Newfields Republican said he's not inclined to support any increases in taxes and fees even for state agencies that are self-funding such as the Fish and Game Department that for years has been plagued with a structural deficit.

"Raising taxes and fees is never the first option as well and not something we are looking to do in this budget at all," Sununu said.

Changes in child protection

Also complicating the next budget for Sununu and the Legislature is the higher spending that's already been promised, such as increases for mental health care as the result of a federal court case settlement and additional staff at the Division of Children, Youth and Families to address a critical, independent report on the state's investigation of suspected child abuse.

State Sen. Sharon Carson has already filed legislation designed as a placeholder for what is expected to be a package of reforms to the state's child protection system, including an ambitious proposal to remove the DCYF from the behemoth Division of Health and Human Services.

"The legislation I have filed will remove DCYF from the Department of Health and Human Services and create a standalone agency," Carson told the Legislative Commission to Review Child Abuse Fatalities on Dec. 19.

An independent Department of Child Protective Services with its own commissioner might be better able to deal with the problems that plague the agency, and do a better job of pressing the state Legislature for much-needed resources.

The biggest reaction among lawmakers to the extreme staffing shortages at DCYF revealed in the independent audit was, "Why didn't someone tell us?"

Also on the horizon: Creation of an independent Office of Child Advocate and changes to the state's child protection statute that make it easier for social workers to remove children, at least temporarily, from dangerous situations.

Victory coming for gun owners

Given that the state ranks in the top five in per capita membership in the National Rifle Association, New Hampshire has not been a friendly place for gun control.

But Democratic governors and left-of-center legislative leaders over the past decade have combined to block attempts to relax the state's firearm laws.

This is likely to change in 2017 when it comes to repealing the legal permit required to carry a concealed handgun.

The issue was a divisive one in the race for governor with Sununu supporting repeal of the permit and Democratic nominee Colin Van Ostern of Concord supporting the law.

The last two Democratic governors, Hassan and John Lynch, prevented the permits from going away by vetoing bills the Republican-led Legislature had adopted.

Sununu points out that Vermont has the lowest number of residents killed by gun violence in the nation and it has no permit requirements.

"We have a state that strongly supports the Second Amendment made up of citizens who are responsible when it comes to using firearms," Sununu said.

Republican legislative support for these repeal efforts have increased in the past two years, with a state Supreme Court decision that made clear that local law enforcement has plenty of latitude when it comes to determining who is a "suitable person" to receive such a permit.

"We've seen that standard be very different across the state and that's discriminatory in some cases to citizens," said State Rep. J. R. Hoell, R-Dunbarton, a leader in the pro-gun owner rights movement.

A backdrop to this debate will be Sununu's decision on naming the next attorney general.

While Sununu has not tipped his hand on any appointments, it's a virtual certainty he will not rename AG Joseph Foster, a Nashua Democrat and former Senate majority leader.

Foster was like all his recent predecessors on this topic supporting the retention of concealed carry permits.

Will Sununu pick a top prosecutor who has a different view and would not offer any dissent to this legislative campaign?

New efforts to restrict abortion services

The new Republican governor is already well-known for his on-again, off-again, on-again relationship with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.

Sununu calls himself "pro-choice," which was why his deciding vote to block state grants to Planned Parenthood in 2015 became such a flash point in the campaign.

Less than a year later, Sununu got the chance for a makeup call on the matter and reversed field, endorsing grants for Planned Parenthood.

Sununu had opposed them last year due to the allegations that other locals of Planned Parenthood had paid for fetal body parts, allegations that were never taken to court to be proved.

What is less recognized but worth watching next year is whether Sununu gives any political support to restrictions on abortion laws that he did endorse in 2016.

For example, Sununu said he would sign into law the repeal of the still-unenforced law that requires there be a buffer zone around abortion clinics so that their patrons aren't harassed by pro-life protesters.

Further in a mailing to pro-life voters, Sununu said he favors the so-called Health Care Freedom of Conscience Act that permits all employees of health care providers to refuse to work or counsel anyone regarding services that they morally oppose.

Those services include abortion, birth control, stem-cell research and euthanasia.

Finally, Sununu said that unlike the last two governors who vetoed such measures, he would embrace legislation that treats an unborn fetus as a person when it comes to the state's homicide laws.

"I need your help to restore strong, value-based governance to our state," Sununu wrote to pro-life voters days before his Nov. 8 victory.

Pro-choice advocates remain hopeful they can convince the Legislature not to pass these measures.

Power struggles continue

High electricity rates will continue to be an issue for businesses and homeowners alike in 2017. The year-end news that New Hampshire gun-maker Sig Sauer decided to expand out of state, citing high energy costs, only added fuel to the fire.

The statewide Site Evaluation Committee is expected to vote on the Northern Pass hydroelectric transmission project by the end of September, marking some form of resolution to a project that's been in the works since 2010.

In a recent interview with the Union Leader, Eversource-N.H. CEO Bill Quinlan said the prospects for approval look better than ever, but opponents have stepped up their legal challenges.

A consortium of 18 municipalities, led by Concord, has asserted that only a local community has the legal right to authorize the use of local roads for a project like Northern Pass.

Attorneys for the group filed a petition with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 20 for a declaratory ruling on the issue.

A September decision by the SEC may not be the final word on the project, since the losing side could take its case to court.

klandrigan@unionleader.com

dsolomon@unionleader.com

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