STATE HOUSE UPDATE
By Dick Thackston State Rep. Cheshire 12 – Troy & Fitzwillam
The NH General Court, (the State House of Representatives and State Senate), is essentially done with this Term, (two year Term began in December 2022), the is the possibility of one more Session does exist at the call of the Chair of both the House & the Senate to override any vetoes, and Legislation that was tabled earlier this year could be taken off the table for reconsideration but the chances of any of that seems low.
There were at least two bills that were so controversial that neither parties’ leadership took a hard and fast position, or they switched positions. There are probably thirty or so incredibly bad ideas that did not pass the house and frankly there are probably thirty or so incredibly good ideas that failed to make it out of the gate as well.
Personally, I voted with the Republican Leadership approximately 80% of the time the other 20% was probably equally divided between the Libertarians and the Democrats. I co-sponsored eight Bills this year all of which received bi-partisan support on the floor of the House and the Senate, four of which have been signed into law by the Governor.
Housing and the Economy are on the top of virtually every Legislators priority list at this time. The great challenge is to do short term good without doing long term harm. This is particularly true with housing affordability. That being said until school funding is sorted out in a manner that doesn’t impoverish a little less than half the State, (were we live), and reward a little more than half the State, (not were we live), it’s unlikely that a true solution to housing affordability will be arrived at by the Legislature.
The Bill that I openly broke with the Republican Caucus on was HB 1583. This bill intended to fully fund the Conval Decision regarding School Funding. The Conval School District sued the State of NH for inadequately funding Public Schools. The Monadnock Regional School District as well as Claremont, Derry Co-Operative, Fall Mountain, Grantham, Hillsboro-Deering, Hopkinton, Lebanon, Manchester, Mascenic, Mascoma Valley, Nashua, Newport, Oyster River, Winchester, and Windham joined with Conval in the suit and won. However, the State obtained a stay from the NH Supreme Court so it would not have to make the actual payments to the schools. HB 1583 passed the House on a 205/177 “Division Vote”. The Division Vote is significant because it means neither caucus wanted individual members to be held accountable for their votes: meaning both Republican & Democrat members from wealthy Cities and Towns that will not benefit can have plausible deniability. Ultimately, after passing the House the Senate sent it to an “Interim Study” so that they would not have to vote on it, effectively killing the Bill.
The two other controversial Bills passed by the House in this Session are HB 1283-FN; HB 1633-FN-A.
HB 1283-FN is generally referred to as the Assisted Suicide Bill. This bill was also sent to “Interim Study” by the Senate, effectively killing the Bill.
HB 1633-FN-A is a bill to de-criminalize the sale, consumption and retail sale of Marijuana in NH. This Bill came back to the House so mangled by the Senate that many of the original supporters were against it and many of the original opponents were for it. The House Tabled this Bill after being returned form the Senate, effectively killing the Bill.
The eight bi-partisan Bills that I cosponsored with other members of both the House and Senate and their status are as follows:
HB 1666-FN: Status: Signed by the Governor – This bill requires lobbyists to identify clients and income received from lobbying activity. The bill also authorizes the secretary of state to enforce lobbyist statement requirements.
HB 1125: Status: Signed by the Governor – This bill requires public notice and comment at all county commissioner and delegation meetings.
SB 399-FN: Status: Signed by the Governor – This bill expands mandatory health insurance coverage for blood tests associated with elevated lead levels.
SB 480-FN: Status: Sign by the Governor – This bill requires:
I. Any board or commission whose total number of active licensees exceeds 7,000 to have a dedicated, trained, and knowledgeable customer service administrator that works for the administrative section of the office of professional licensure and certification to respond to inquiries from the public and licensees.
II. Makes various amendments to allow for inactive real estate licenses.
III. Amends the education approval process for the real estate commission.
HB 1270-FN: Status: Signed by the Governor – This bill amends the procedures that peace officers are to follow when they encounter someone who is both intoxicated and incapacitated by either alcohol or drugs.
HB 1311: Status: Passed House Senate Amended House Non-concur with Amendments – This bill requires school boards to adopt policies governing library media collections and the reconsideration of library materials.
HB 1460-FN: Status: Indefinitely Postponed – This bill requires counties to assess county-owned real estate before any sale, transfer, or lease, and establishes certain notice requirements.
HB 1416: Status: Indefinitely Postponed by the House – This bill prohibits parking of non-electric vehicles in spaces designated for charging electric vehicles.
All of the Sessions of the New Hampshire Legislature, both House and Senate, are live streamed and archived on U-Tube.
If you are interested in following the schedule of bills, meetings or other current information in the NH Legislature just plug in the following address and it will take you to the General Court Home Page: https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/
As always, thank-you for your support.