Sununu Signs 'Bipartisan Miracle Budget'

Gov. Chris Sununu, flanked by House and Senate members from both parties, signed the Legislature’s $15.2 billion biennial budget Tuesday. (Courtesy)

State workers will see a 10 percent pay raise next month, followed by another 2 percent next year. The state’s interest and dividends tax will end Dec. 31, 2024, two years early. And there’s more money coming for housing and schools.

Gov. Chris Sununu signed the Legislature’s $15.2 billion biennium budget Tuesday including those measures and more. 

The budget is notable not only for its unexpected $134 million investment in higher Medicaid rates and the biggest state employee pay raise in 50 years. It had sufficient bipartisan support to pass the Legislature earlier this month without the typical drawn-out, and often contentious, last-minute budget negotiations. 

Sununu signed House Bill 1 and the policy trailer legislation, House Bill 2, with lawmakers from both parties and chambers at his side. 

“I believe we kind of just made history,” House Speaker Sherman Packard, a Londonderry Republican, said following the vote on June 8. “This chamber deserves some congratulations.”

“This is a bipartisan miracle budget that provides for families, employees, students, and businesses,” said Gov. Chris Sununu in a statement. “Everyone gave a little to get a lot. This budget proves that with a near evenly split Legislature, here in New Hampshire, we’re able to come together and deliver for the people of the Granite State to unlock unprecedented opportunity. Today is proof that with the right approach, good government is still possible.”

June has been a busy month for Sununu. He announced two weeks ago he would not run for president. His decision to sign the budget leaves another big question unanswered: Will he seek a record fifth term as governor?

Probably not, he said during an interview on The Greg Hill Show” on WEEI Friday. Politico reported the news that day. 

“Could I win again? Of course,” Sununu said. “But it’s [public] service, and someone else needs to kind of take the mantle,” said Sununu. He earns about $146,500 a year as governor. “I’ve got kids to put through college and all that sort of thing.”

This story is courtesy of NH Bulletin under creative commons license. No changes have been made to the article.