STATE HOUSE UPDATE JULY & AUGUST 2023
By Dick Thackston State Rep. Cheshire 12 – Troy & Fitzwillam
The NH House will have wrapped up its work for the Winter/Spring Session by the time you read this. Writing from the third week of June there is one session left, June 29, for both the House of Representatives & Senate to work out any differences on bills and send agreed upon legislation to the Governor. That’s the end of the story for now, however it occurs to me that it may be of general interest how we get to this point in the legislative process.
All bills that come before the NH House of Representatives must be filed before the beginning of the “Session”. The Session begins with an organizational meeting in early January to determine Speaker, Clerk etc. so bills to be considered have a cut off date in early December for submission. Once bills are submitted and House Leadership has been established the Leadership assigns bills to the most appropriate “Standing Committee” based on the content of the bill. No Bill comes to the floor of the House without Committee recommendation of either Ought to Pass, OTP or Inexpedient to Legislate, ITL. The determination in Committee of either OTP or ITL is by majority vote. Currently Committees are 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats resulting in one party or the other splitting their votes but most commonly votes that are unanimous or nearly so, (17-3 etc). Many Bills are subject to the review of more than one Committee, principally due to financial or potential financial implications. It is also not uncommon for a Bill to come to the floor of the House for a vote and be referred back to another Committee and/or to the Finance Committee. It is quite possible for a Bill to have split recommendations. It is also possible for a Bill to be “Retained in Committee” meaning that a majority of members of a Committee couldn’t agree up or down on a Bill but felt it required further consideration at a later time. Typically, reconsiderations by Committee occur in the Fall.
The Senate has largely the same process.
Once Bills emerge from Committee the House schedules votes on Bills as quickly as they emerge from Committee. The busiest time for voting Sessions of the House is February and March. Early in April there is a “Crossover Day” this is the day that Bills from the House are sent to the Senate and Bills from the Senate are sent to the House. Committees again review the Bills from the other “Chamber” with recommendations for amendment or adoption. These Bills are then brought before the House for voting.
It’s at this point that the process amendments from Committees and from the Floor are added and can change the sprit and intent of bills. It’s also not uncommon to have a bill that failed in one Chamber or the other to be added to another that had overwhelming support in the original Chamber to try and force it through.
Once all this has happened there are some bills that the Chambers are neither is prepared to let go nor pass as written and these Bills are sent to Committees of Conference where presumably mutual agreement can be arrived at by Conferees appointed by the leadership of each Chamber.
Once Bills receive final votes are made in the affirmative by both Chambers, they are forwarded to the Governor for review and signature into law or Veto.
In the Session that has just ended I am happiest with the results on four bills: HB1, HB2, HB95 & HB340. The votes were overwhelmingly bipartisan.
The two most immediately important are HB1 & HB2. HB1 determines the amount and sources of funding for the State of New Hampshire for the next two years: Passed 351-25. HB2 determines what and how the funding will be spent on: Passed 326-53.
The two worst Bills, in my opinion, HB95 which would have forced municipalities to allow single family homes to be converted into up to four family homes regardless of local Zoning and Planning: Failed 301-63 and HB340 which sought to limit ownership of real estate and confiscate and turn over to municipalities real estate owned by entities and in amounts non-compliant with this bill: Failed 273-78.
If your interested in following Legislation as it moves through the NH House & Senate, you can go online at https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_Status/quickSearch.aspx
The Democratic National Committee is once again extending its deadline for New Hampshire to comply with its new primary calendar. The rules and bylaws committee of the DNC met Friday to give Granite State Democrats more time to pass legislation to repeal the first-in-the-nation primary law. The vote was unanimous, and the deadline has been pushed back to September. As of this writing the Leadership of both Parties appear to agree that NH should retain its “First in the Nation”. You can read more online at https://www.wmur.com/article/dnc-deadline-new-hampshire-primary-calendar/44226266