Stay ConnectedWe love to talk about the federal government as much as anybody. But in a country of fifty unique states, some of the biggest, weirdest, sometimes brightest ideas happen in state governments. That’s why we’re going local.
Civics 101: New Hampshire is a series exploring the government of our lovely, rambunctious home state. We get down to brass tacks with New Hampshire’s political insiders and try to decipher how local democracy actually works.
www.civics101podcast.org/newhampshire/
Copyright: © NHPR
Town meetings are a New Hampshire institution. It’s where all the year’s town business and elections are voted on by citizens in town halls and community centers around the state. But for the uninitiated, town meeting can be confusing. Daniela Allee breaks down the history and function of this annual tradition.
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When you visit the state house in Concord, you might see some well dressed people wearing bright orange name tags: lobbyists. What do lobbyists do and how does lobbying work? And is their shady reputation really deserved?
You don’t have to be a political junkie to recognize their face. The governor is everywhere: kissing babies, giving speeches, so on and so forth. On today’s episode, we break down precisely what power the governor holds and who constrains that power.
We spoke with R. Stuart Wallace, a professor of New Hampshire History at NHTI.
Our lives leave behind a paper trail: birth certificates, marriage licenses, businesses licenses. So we’re not just sharing landmark moments with the people we love. We’re also sharing them with the Secretary of State’s office. But besides keeping keeping records, what else does this office do? And what role does it play in our day to day lives?
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Here’s the thing - we here at Civics 101: New Hampshire are not money people. We don’t really do “math” and we avoid opening our bank apps at all costs. That’s why we decided to grab the fiscal bull by the horns and learn about New Hampshire’s budget. We have a lot of questions, like, um, what is the budget? Who writes it, and what do we spend money on? And how are New Hampshire’s spending decisions different from other states?
In part one, we trace the life of the budget, from when it's a glimmer in the eye of a state agency to a full-grown piece of legislation.
In our second episode about New Hampshire’s state budget, we crack open the budget and look at what exactly we spend all our money on.
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