BIG CHANGES FOR SOME: One of the perks of being the majority party at the beginning of each decade is you get to decide the political boundaries for congressional, Executive Council, state Senate and state representative districts.

If Democrats had maintained their majorities in the last election, they would be drawing the lines, but they didn't, and now they could pay the price, more so perhaps in the House than in the Senate.

Last week, the Senate approved its plan for redrawing the 24 Senate districts, with some that would shift significantly and others not at all.

With Republicans holding the pencil, about a dozen districts would be solidly in the GOP win column and several swing districts would lean more toward the Republican side, but seven or eight districts might never see a Republican in that august body.

At last week's session, the plan was approved on a party line vote of 19-4, with one Democrat absent and very little discussion.

The redistricting plan in Senate Bill 201 goes to the House, while the House's plan, House Bill 592, will have a public hearing before the Senate Internal Affairs Committee Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Traditionally, the House simply approves the Senate plan, and the Senate returns the courtesy. Afterward, the bills go to the governor, who may or may not veto them.

Both plans are likely to face a court challenge.

In the Senate plan, six districts wouldn't change: 14, Hudson, Londonderry and Auburn; 19, Derry, Hampstead and Windham; 22, Salem, Atkinson, Pelham and Plaistow; and 16, 18 and 20, which include Manchester and various surrounding communities.

On the Senate floor, the only lawmaker to specifically state his concerns about the plan was District 17 Sen. Jack Barnes of Raymond, who noted his district would lose Brentwood, Chester, Danville, Fremont and Sandown and gain Loudon, Pembroke. Strafford and Nottingham.

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While the nine-town shift would be significant, it would pale in comparison to the plan for District 4, which would comprise Dover, Somersworth, Barrington and Rollinsford. Currently, District 4 consists of Alton, Barnstead, Belmont, Gilford, Gilmanton, Laconia, New Durham and Strafford.

The current District 4 senator, James Forsythe, R-Strafford, says he will not run for reelection, so his district is up for grabs. If he was to reconsider that decision, he would have to face Barnes in a primary.

District 4, which has been largely a Lakes Region district dominated by Republicans, would be moved to the Seacoast area and made solidly Democratic.

The Seacoast area would see other significant changes.

Portsmouth has always anchored District 24, but that would no longer be the case. Portsmouth would be in District 21, which has always been the Durham-Dover district.

Once reliably Democratic, District 24 would be much more Republican, losing Portsmouth while gaining Stratham, Kensington, South Hampton and Newton.

With the addition of Portsmouth, Newmarket and Madbury, District 21 would become one of the districts Republicans might never hold. Two other communities would also be added, Newfields and Newington, but heavily Republican Epping would be dropped along with Rollinsford.

District 23 would see many communities coming and going, but would clearly be anchored by Exeter. While the district would lose heavily Democratic Newmarket, it would also lose Republican-dominated Stratham while adding consistently Republican-leaning Epping, Brentwood, Fremont, Chester, Sandown and Danville.

District 6 for many years included Rochester and Somersworth, both Democratic-leaning cities. Somersworth, now in District 4, would be replaced by Republican-leaning Alton, Barnstead, Farmington, Gilmanton and New Durham. District 6 would be solidly Republican.

Sen. Raymond White, R-Bedford, also says he will not seek reelection, leaving District 9 open to considerable change.

The district currently is anchored by Bedford and Merrimack, two reliably Republican communities. The new plan would drop Merrimack, which would move to District 11, home to Senate President Peter Bragdon, making that district solidly Republican.

District 11 would no longer include some Monadnock communities that would go to District 9.

District 9 would stretch from Bedford to Richmond and Fitzwilliam in the Monadnock region and include Peterborough, Sharon, Hancock, Dublin, Jaffrey and Troy. The district would be much less Republican, and a senator could come from the Peterborough area.

The Democratic-leaning District 10 would lose Peterborough and some of the communities moving to District 9, but it would add towns to the north and east. However, the political makeup probably wouldn't change significantly.

The political makeup of District 8 would change considerably, becoming much more Republican and losing the city that once anchored the district — Claremont.

The towns north of Keene and south of Charlestown would no longer be in the district, but towns that once were key areas of District 7, such as Henniker, Hillsborough and Antrim, would be added along with communities in the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee region, such as Grantham, Springfield and Croydon.

Outside of District 4, District 7 looks like it would change the most in the redistricting plan.

Once composed of communities to the west and north of Concord, the district would shift to the Lakes Region and be anchored by Franklin and Laconia. Although it would certainly remain a swing district, it could lean a little more Democratic.

District 5, which currently represents the Upper Valley and Lake Sunapee region, would shift west to include Claremont, another Democratic stronghold.

This would be a district that few Republicans would have a shot at winning.

Those are the major changes. Districts 2 and 3 would switch some communities and extend their reach farther south, as would District 1 in the North Country.

District 12 in Nashua would become more Republican with the addition of towns to the west, but District 13 would become more Democratic, picking up another ward in Nashua.

Several weeks ago, this column called the Senate plan “a typical incumbent reelection act.” That is certainly the case, except for one senator, Republican Andy Sanborn, who represents District 7 and lives in Henniker but is likely moving to Loudon. Henniker would no longer be in District 7, and if he wanted to run in District 17, he would have to face Barnes, who has held the seat for 20 year, in a Republican primary.

Henniker would be in District 15 along with Hopkinton, Concord and Warner. No Republican would need apply.

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RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR: Another former state senator is throwing her hat into the ring to seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Jackie Cilley of Barrington will officially announce her candidacy Tuesday at the YWCA in Manchester.

Cilley served in both the House and the Senate. She owns a small business and taught at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics for 20 years. A Berlin native, Cilley earned a BA from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from the Whittemore School.

She represented District 6 in the Senate. If she were running for the Senate again, she would be running in District 4.

Cilley joins former District 23 state Sen. Maggie Hassan in the Democratic contest. Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith are seeking the Republican nomination.

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NO MONEY LEFT BEHIND: The House will vote Wednesday on two bills that would end the state's involvement with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

HB 1413 would direct the state to withdraw from the federal program, which is tied to Title 1 money from the federal government.

HB 1517, sponsored by House Education Committee Chairman Michael Balboni, R-Nashua, would prohibit any state agency or school district from entering into any agreement implementing any provision of the act.

For this school year, New Hampshire receives $40.5 million in Title 1 money, including $6.6 million for Manchester and $3.4 million for Nashua. Other cities receiving more than $1 million include Concord, Laconia and Rochester.

The Department of Education said about $61.6 million in federal money that comes to school districts in the state could be at risk.

The House Education Committee has recommended, by fairly large margins, that both bills be approved by the House.

New Hampshire would be the first state to withdraw from the program.

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A YEAR'S REPRIEVE: During a public hearing on HB 1692 this session, University System of New Hampshire officials asked lawmakers to give them time to decentralize services now in the Chancellor's Office and move them to the four colleges.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Robbie Parsons, R-Milton, would eliminate the system's Chancellor's Office and move its duties and authority to the system's board of trustees and individual college administrators.

The office would be eliminated by July 1.

The bill has some heavy hitters as sponsors, including House Speaker William O'Brien, House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt, House Finance Committee Chairman Ken Weyler, and former House Speaker and current Speaker Pro Tem Gene Chandler.

The system officials got what they asked for because the bill has been changed to give them until July 1, 2013, to make the changes.

The bill will go before the House on Wednesday.

The University System board of trustees approved a resolution in the fall to direct the Chancellor's Office and the board to develop a plan to reorganize the system with an eye toward enhanced independence, autonomy and self-governance for each of the colleges.

Under the resolution, a review and evaluation of system-wide services would be conducted with an eye toward improving efficiency.

The resolution requires a progress report be made to the board by Nov. 7.

Parsons said the change in his bill would give the trustees and system officials time to do their efficiency study.

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PROPERTY TAXES: A bill going before a public hearing this week would change state tax property law to prorate the taxes on a building destroyed by fire or a natural disaster after the property tax year begins April 1.

Under current law, the value of the property on April 1 is what the owner's property tax liability is for the year, even if the property is destroyed on April 2.

Under SB 382, the tax liability would be prorated if the building was damaged or if new construction was completed during the remaining 12 months of the tax year.

The public hearing is at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Room 103 of the State House.

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BURTON FUNDRAISER: District 1 Executive Councilor Raymond Burton of Bath held his biannual fundraiser last week at Church Landing in Meredith.

He traditionally holds the event after announcing he will run for yet another term, as he did last month in Colebrook. He has served since 1977.

This year, former Congressman Bill Zeliff hosted the event, which raised $75,000 for Burton's reelection campaign.

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HOUSE DEMS HIRE DIRECTOR: The Committee to Elect House Democrats hired Gene Martin to run its 2012 campaign.

Martin has been the state Democratic Party's political director and the point person for Democrats in the special House elections held since 2010.

Garry Rayno writes State House Dome for New Hampshire Sunday News. Email him at grayno@unionleader.com.