We have often seen a study committee become code for this is not going to happen.

Some have really led to significant state law such as one that worked out details for the smaller, “trauma centered” complex in Hampstead that will eventually replace the Sununu Youth Services Center.

To her credit, Carson wasn’t shy in stating her view that the House had sent the Senate a flawed bill and there was no way it would pass the upper chamber as is.

Rep. Samuel Farrington, a Rochester Republican and the House bill sponsor, had presented a detailed amendment that addressed many of the concerns senators brought up during the bill’s public hearing.

The big winners here were Saint Anselm College, Dartmouth, New England College and the other 16 private colleges that didn’t want to get caught in the Senate version of the bill like they did in the bill (HB 1793) that the House passed.

Senate Republicans did their homework, ensuring the influential National Rifle Association leadership assured them the issue would not jeopardize Senate Republicans being able to brag about otherwise having an “A” voting record with the NRA entering reelection.

Do you remember a year ago when Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Carson were barely on speaking terms and the new governor crammed through the state Senate the restoration of pension benefits for first responders that Senate GOP leaders did not want?

That’s a distant memory now.

Quietly in the background, Ayotte, a former U.S. senator, has worked hard to forge a warming and supportive relationship with Carson and it’s paying off.

Going on 28 years in the House and Senate, Carson has not only seen it all, but she doesn’t get rattled by the daily, weekly, monthly controversies that crop up.

Sorry, warmth doesn’t happen automatically. But it’s there.

This renewed alliance can be critical as the House and Senate resolve the few dozen bills on which they remain in dispute.

It’s not final, but state revenues for the mega-month of April are looking pretty solid.

As of April 24, the revenue dashboard reported that main taxes had already produced $361 million or $40.4 million more (up 12.7%) than expected for the entire month.

Business taxes are getting a close look by legislators from both parties in both branches.

So far, the two taxes had taken in $279 million, which was $25 million ahead of forecast for April.

Both the state’s tax on restaurant meals and hotel rentals (up $9 million) and the property transfer tax (up $7.1 million) had already exceeded the month’s revenue forecast.

Greg Moore, regional director for Americans for Prosperity, used the report to renew the group’s push for the Senate to embrace the House-passed cut in the Business Enterprise Tax (HB 155).

“As our April revenue is showing, the state’s revenue picture is looking very strong. Now is the time to give tax relief to small businesses across that state as they are struggling with affordability, just as average Granite Staters are,” Moore said in a statement.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee has embraced a modest plan to raise the no-tax floor so more very small businesses don’t have to even file a BET tax return in the future.

“I will note — state revenues are rebounding so far, as I predicted in the beginning of this budget cycle, but gone are the days of $500m surpluses,” Ways and Means Chair Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, posted recently on X.

Teamsters Local 633, with more than 4,700 members strong, has endorsed Democrat Cinde Warmington for governor.

“During Cinde’s time on the Executive Council, we knew that we could always count on her to stand up for working families across New Hampshire and look out for our members,” said Jeffrey Padellaro, union secretary treasurer and principal officer. “We’re proud to support Cinde because we know that she’ll continue to fight for us as New Hampshire’s next governor and work relentlessly to make our state more affordable for working families.”

This comes on the heels of the American Postal Workers Union Local 230 backing Warmington.

Volunteers for the governor and the Republican State Committee are investing a lot of their time tracking and stalking New Hampshire Democratic Party and Warmington events.

They had a sizable contingent outside the party’s big recent fundraiser in Nashua and also held signs while Warmington did a press conference in front of the State House last week.

The Senate Finance Committee still has before it the House-passed bill that would end the practice of the state spending Social Security or veteran’s benefits to cover the state’s cost of care for foster children.

But two powerful senators threw some shade at the idea.

Committee Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, pointed out most working families aren’t able to hand over a big sum of money when their children turn 18 like this bill could.

Senate President Carson wondered aloud if this could put these kids in jeopardy for violating federal law.

“I know there are rules a person who is a recipient of (Supplemental Security Income) can only hold so much money, I think it’s $2,000 that they can have,” Carson said. “If we are going to be saving this money and once they come out of the program are they going to be fined for having more than $2,000? That’s the question I had on this bill.”

Once again, Senate Executive Departments and Administration Committee Chairman Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, is the man in the spotlight when it comes to whether 2026 will be the year when the Legislature adopts a moratorium on new landfills and sets up a site selection process for future ones.

As Pearl foreshadowed weeks ago, nearly all bills on this topic will be sent to study by the Senate and the vehicle for a potential agreement will be HB 707.

We’re still weeks away from this one seeing pay dirt, but Pearl revealed last week he’s working closely with Ayotte’s office on language that they both can get behind.

House Republican and Democratic lawmakers working on this issue have heard this before.

Given the political winds, leaders in the solid waste industry must be waking up to the fact that after the midterms, the next Legislature could be much less hospitable to them (aka more Democratic and/or environmentally friendly) than this one has been.

Any deal Pearl were to make now could be a lot less painful than one the next Legislature and governor could be driving in 2027.

We’ve learned Stacey Abrams, the two-time Democratic nominee for governor in Georgia, is endorsing Stefany Shaheen‘s bid for the 1st Congressional District seat.

All four Democratic mayors in cities in the 1st Congressional District have also gotten behind Shaheen’s campaign.

They are Deaglan McEachern of Portsmouth, Dennis Shanahan of Dover, Matt Gerding of Somersworth and Chuck Grassie of Rochester.

As we’ve chronicled before, Maura Sullivan, Democratic primary rival, Marine combat vet and former Obama administration official, has attracted some names of her own including sitting members of Congress and a PAC promoting veteran candidates.

A pickup for Sullivan last week was Bedford Democrat and former Navy pilot Matt McLaughlin who again plans to seek the Senate seat held by Sen. Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford.

“I have always admired their toughness, their commitment to the mission and their dedication to service,” McLaughlin said about Marines in coming out for Sullivan.

Sincere condolences to former state Rep. Robert L’Heureux, R-Merrimack, who recently lost his beloved wife Frances, 79.

Sure, they want campus carry, but the big kahuna that some 2nd Amendment advocates want most this year is a House-passed bill that’s still sitting in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

We’re talking HB 609, which would expressly say only the New Hampshire Legislature – no one else – shall adopt restrictions on possession and carry in the public.

The most overt example of this was when the public couldn’t bring in guns during last summer’s Pease Air Show.

But what got some gun folks peeved was the policy that the Department of Transportation adopted that prevented anyone carrying guns in their plow trucks.

It’s likely that more than a few of the private contractors hired by the state to plow snow have a gun rack in the back.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to take up this one and a few other bills that when they next meet on Tuesday.

The Senate leadership could decide to embrace this bill in the hope that softens some of the sting over what the panel did to campus carry.

Four-term state Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, said after all the press conferences, press releases and studies the Legislature has failed to do enough to close loopholes in the system following the tragic murder of Marisol Fuentes in Berlin by her estranged husband who then killed himself.

The Senate judicial panel last week took testimony from Rep. Zoe Mandos, D-Stratham, on her bill which will require that any hearing from an alleged domestic violence victim MUST be scheduled within 72 hours.

Her bill is the one of two to make changes resulting with a Marisol-driven study commission that urged lawmakers to make many proposals.

“If I had to grade the performance of this Legislature when it comes to closing the systemic gaps that have been identified in the current legislation, I‘d have to give us an F,” Meuse said.

Many state party regulars noticed when U.S. Senate hopeful Karishma Manzur quickly left last weekend’s Democratic Party fundraiser in Nashua that looked like a coronation from the Democratic establishment for frontrunner and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas.

The event did serve as a touching tribute to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking U.S. Senate Democrat who helped put New Hampshire on the map when it came to crafting American foreign policy.

On Monday, Manzur was back at it, testifying to urge the New Hampshire Legislature to punish Rep. Travis Corcoran, R-Weare, who is in no mood to “tame” his social media presence.

So did Sarah Chadzynski a 1st CD Democratic hopeful from Goffstown who urged the House panel to bring the hammer down on Corcoran.

We’ll know soon enough. House Legislative Administration Chairman Greg Hill, R-Northfield, has scheduled an executive session Wednesday on the matter.