By Allie Morris, includes “It’s now officially 2015, and time for legislators to start cobbling together the state’s next two-year budget. The start of that process kicks off the desperate search for revenue, which in years past has led lawmakers to look to the state’s dedicated funds. New Hampshire has over 300 of these accounts that are bankrolled by money raised specifically for the fund’s purpose.

For example, domestic violence prevention programs are funded in part by money raised from New Hampshire’s $45 marriage license fee. During budget negotiations in the past, lawmakers have engaged in a practice known as “raiding” the dedicated funds: diverting the dedicated money from those specific accounts into the general fund to be used for other purposes.

Already several legislators including Republican Sens. Nancy Stiles and Jeanie Forrester, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, have come out against the budgetary practice. The pair penned letters this week to their local newspapers condemning dedicated fund raids.”