STATE HOUSE UPDATE
By Dick Thackston State Rep. Cheshire 12 – Troy & Fitzwillam
The 168th session of New Hampshire’s General Court is now in full swing. I can honestly say there’s more coming at us than I had expected. There are over three thousand bills for the house to consider this session before we recess this Spring. Personally, I have been assigned to the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee which focuses primarily on Banking, Insurance, Liquor, Real Estate and Business-Related legislation. I have concluded with given the volume of Bills being presented for consideration the first step is to figure out bills that never should have been brought up. These are typically sent by the Committees to the full house with a recommended vote of Inexpedient to Legislate, ITL, the sponsor or sponsors can make their case before the full house but for the most part the house tends to follow Committee recommendations especially if the Committee vote of ITL is broadly bi-partisan – which most are. The two most interesting bills to have come before my Committee, as of this writing, are the two initial bills on the legalization of Marijuana and a bill to increase the penalties for over serving alcohol in restaurants etc. Testimony on both bills was passionate. Due to the number of people anticipated that would want to speak on the Marijuana bills we actually heard the testimony in the House Chamber. No final vote has been taken as of this writing on either bill both are being reviewed and amended at this time.
The House Session on February 14, 2023 I voted on the following bills:
In Favor: HB347 This bill expands the number of Superior Court Justices specifically with regard to housing/land issues. This would help the supply of housing not with subsidies or mandates but by shoring up the existing justice system to work for everyone.
In Favor: HB62 This bill would cut the gas tax by approximately 20%, a reduction of approximately $35 Million per year. In this case I voted against the Committee recommendation of ITL.
In Favor: HB388 This bill would remove the mandate the requires us to have both front and back license plates on our cars. Honestly, I don’t feel strongly on this issue, but many do. With modern tracking devices built into your car I see it as almost irrelevant if you have one or two plates.
In Favor: HB309 This bill clarifies NH Curriculum standards by education on genocide education must include by is limited to the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, Chinese coolie labor in Cuba, the Uighurs in China and the Rohingya in Burma.
Details of all bills and legislative sessions can be found at https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/
Thank-you for your support; listed below are some news items from around the state about the state that may be of interest.
Senate Majority Whip Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, authored the resolution responding to the Democratic National Committee’s decision last week to approve a 2024 calendar that would give the first primary to South Carolina.
Bill to let locals restrict ‘biological sex’ facilities stalls https://www.unionleader.com/news/local/bill-to-let-locals-restrict-biological-sex-facilities-stalls/article_b1a81d56-a2b8-5d6f-9881-6cffd799d8b1.html?block_id=1399899
Arguments begin on series of NH gun safety bills https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/statehouse/arguments-begin-on-series-of-nh-gun-safety-bills/article_65e05a5a-81cb-5d38-92d9-1680833a57bf.html