Kitchen Table Budget? Or Just the Sink?

The New Hampshire Senate votes Thursday on the proposed $11 billion budget for the next two-year budget that begins July 1, and it's blossoming into the major showdown everyone thought it'd be.

• The House is in session Wednesday, June 5, starting at 10 a.m. The Senate session on Thursday also begins at 10 a.m.
• Gov. Maggie Hassan and the Executive Council meet Wednesday, 10 a.m., in council chambers at the Statehouse.

Budget busting. The Senate's turn: The $11 billion budget is controversial in a couple of sectors, including Senate President Peter Bragdon's plan to reject Medicaid expansion in favor of studying it. New Hampshire Democrats, in a kind of pre-emptive strike today will hold a news conference in Concord to draw attention to what they say are GOP-led across-the-board cuts, including a Goliath-like hole in the Health and Human Services budget. Snapshot of big bills on the Senate calendar Thursday:

• HB 25-FN-A, making appropriations for capital improvements. Ought to Pass with Amendment, Vote 6-0.
• HB 1-A, making appropriations for the expenses of certain departments of the state for fiscal years ending June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2015. Ought to Pass with Amendment, Vote 4-2. Senator Morse for the committee.
• HB 2-FN-A-L, relative to state fees, funds, revenues, and expenditures. Ought to Pass with Amendment, Vote 4-2. Senator Morse for the committee.

Wind bill. The House session on Wednesday includes Senate Bill 99, which would require the site evaluation committee to study the criteria for wind-powered electric generating facilities. A House committee recommended passage with an amendment. Among the areas to be considered, according to the committee, are whether new requirements for alternatives are needed and the issue of burial of transmission lines.