STATE HOUSE UPDATE
By Dick Thackston State Rep. Cheshire 12 – Troy & Fitzwillam
The 168th session of New Hampshire’s General Court was sworn in by the Governor and Council in Representative’s Hall at the State House on December 7, 2022. For the swearing in the New Hampshire Senate joins with the House and the Governor swears both bodies in at the same time. Following the swearing in there was a brief session and House Leadership was established.
The Session covered two significant items, with overwhelmingly bi-partisan votes the House organized itself behind Representative Sherman Packard (r) of Londonderry as Speaker and the House voted to return a tie Vote for State Representative back to voters in Rochester. The bi-partisan nature of the voting on these issues is significant as the current house has the narrowest margin in our history 201 – 198. (Once the tie election in Rochester is settled the house will either be 201-199 or 202-198 either of which is still a record narrow margin.)
All further work in the General Court will take place after the Governor’s Inauguration on January 4th.
The Speaker of the New Hampshire House is responsible for all chamber administration, committee assignments, floor operations, scheduling and staffing. Committee assignments are the top priority of the Speaker’s Office in December. In New Hampshire the legislative process begins with Committees. Bills are assigned to Committees by the Speaker in early January. Depending on complexity and any number of other factors Committees will work on bill in the January – February timeframe and then begin voting from late February through the end of March.
There was an effort on the part of some members to avoid a special election for the tied seat in Rochester Ward 4. The actual vote on recount was 970 – 970. The vote overwhelmingly favored sending the seat back to the district to vote again. It appears at this early stage that there is a reasonable hope for cooperation between parties. This hope is born from the facts that with an almost evenly split house actively seeking common ground and a willingness to find compromises will be required by both sides and the initial votes where overwhelmingly not partisan.
Thank-you for your support; listed below are some news items from around the state about the state that may be of interest.
N.H. House Republican and Democratic leaders unite on marijuana legalization bill https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2022-12-13/top-statehouse-republican-and-democrat-to-introduce-marijuana-legalization-bill
NH Supreme Court to decide: COVID-19 a natural disaster or not https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/nh-supreme-court-to-decide-covid-19-a-natural-disaster-or-not/article_8fb012b5-9024-567d-ab2a-63cbb41c4802.html?block_id=868819
Energy aid requests lower than expected https://www.concordmonitor.com/Governor-says-fewer-people-than-expected-have-applied-for-energy-assistance-program-49156878