NH News

A day after the New Hampshire House voted down a Senate-backed gambling bill, it was the upper chamber’s turn to weigh in on some key House legislation.

And there may have been some tit-for-tat.

The GOP majority quickly snuffed a House bill calling for a $0.20 increase in the tobacco tax.

Republicans did much the same with an effort to reinstitute a state minimum wage, and a bill that would have added $0.12 to the state’s gas tax over three years.

The democratically-controlled NH House voted yesterday to kill a bill authorizing a casino with as many as 5000 slot machines and 150 table games. The vote is blow to Governor Maggie Hassan, who lobbied hard for the bill.  As NHPR’s Josh Rogers reports, the 199-164 vote was consistent with the house’s longstanding opposition to casino gambling, but may strain its relations with the state Senate, which had backed the plan by a supermajority.

The New Hampshire Senate passed a medical marijuana bill 18-6 Thursday after changing a few key elements that were in the original House bill.

The state Senate has rejected a proposal to increase the state’s gas tax.

The bill had already passed the House, and would have increased the tax by 12 cents, or 67 percent.

Republican Senator Jeb Bradley said such an increase would hurt families that are already financially stressed.

“A 12 cent increase in the gas tax is a large increase in the gas tax, and it will hurt the very people that we are sent here to protect.”

The Senate voted 18-6 to indefinitely postpone the measure.

New Hampshire's Pease Air National Guard base has won its bid to be first in the nation to receive a new generation of air refueling tankers.

Pease bested four other finalists to secure the new KC-46A tanker, pending an environmental study, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte announced today.

Drivers with an EZPass can now go through the tolls in Hooksett at up to 65 miles per hour, after the state launched four open road tolling lanes there on Wednesday.

Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Boynton said the goal was to get the project finished before the arrival of tourists for Memorial Day weekend.

Thursday, the New Hampshire Senate will vote on a bill to approve the use of medical marijuana. The House already passed a version, but the Senate will vote on a bill that is different in a few key ways: it doesn’t include a “home-grow” provision or post-traumatic stress disorder as a qualifying condition.