"Chase" That Chill Away - HB 307 is Dead. - Granite Grok

“Chase” That Chill Away – HB 307 is Dead.

Last Wednesday the New Hampshire House voted on HB 307, an act relative to government being a big pain in the ass.  Wait…that would be most of the bills and all of the ones written by Democrats.   I’ll be more specific.

HB 307 AN ACT relative to the removal of certain wood stoves upon the sale of a home and notification of such removal to the department of environmental services.

While that might keep someone at DES from wasting your tax dollars surfing the Internet, the committee released it to the House as Inexpedient to legislate. (From the House record)

The purpose of the bill was relative to the removal and destruction of certain woodstoves not certified for sale as new after July 1, 1986 by the government protection agency. The reason given was to reduce excessive particulate discharge from certain inefficient wood burning stoves. The committee had questions about enforcement, and financial reimbursement of the owner’s property, hence the ITL motion. Vote 13-6.

When it came time for the floor vote to put an end the HB 307 nine legislators voted to try and save it.

The name that stood out most to me was, of course, Rhode Island’s own Cynthia Chase, the Free Stater xenophobe who also happened to be one of the Bill’s sponsors. (So were Cali-Pitts and Schmidt, sponsors voting against ITL.)

Did you know that Rhode Island (just as aside really) recently proposed a bill that would limit the sale, lease, or renting of property without an government certified wood stove?

House bill no.7371 states that beginning on January 1, 2013, an individual must obtain a permit before installing a wood stove in any residential home. Permits will only be issued for EPA certified models unless they are 50 feet from any lot line and 200 feet from a neighboring home. Property owners cannot sell, rent, or lease any home with an uncertified stove that is less than 50 feet from any lot line and 200 feet from a neighboring home.

I guess the benevolent statists running the Island of Rhode were convinced that people in more densely populated area’s would not take care of their stoves or replace them with newer ones when the desire and means struck them.  Or maybe the nannies just wanted to be the first New England state to pass such a law.  Could it have been the wood stove equivalent of ‘second hand smoke?’  Maybe it was all of the above.

Well it sounds like Rhode Islander Chase wanted to make New Hampshire the second state in New England to have this kind oppressive progressive oversight.

II. All wood stoves which are not certified for sale as new after July 1, 1986 by the Government Protection Agency shall be removed and destroyed upon the sale of a home if the home is in an area that has been designated as densely populated by the commissioner of the department of environmental services in rules adopted under RSA 541-A and posted at the registry of deeds.

The New Hampshire bill is much less tolerant than the Rhode Island Bill in many respects but the same elements are there.   Only certified stoves. Densely populated areas.  Government control.  Sponsored by Democrats.  Annoying, inconvenient, expensive,  and more than likely–unnecessary.  All hallmarks of Liberal leadership to be certain.

But we have to give credit where credit is due.  There were plenty of New Hampshire Democrats who realized this was a no-go.  A lot of them, actually.  They overwhelmingly sent HB 307 packing 338-9.  And to be give equal credit where due two of the nine who tried to resurrect the bill were elected as Republicans.

Here’s the full list of..what should we call them…wood stove Nazis?  No wood stove for you!*  List courtesy of Laura Jones.

Greg Burdwood (Dover-d), Jacqueline Cali-Pitts (Portsmouth-d), Cynthia Chase (Keene-d), David Miller (Rochester-d), Larry Phillips (Keene-d), Dennis Reed (Franklin-r), Peter Schmidt (Dover-d), Judith Spang (Durham-d), and Charlene Takesian (Pelham-r).

 

*No soup for you!

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