We learned that when Republicans do not show up, it can be a pretty disappointing day in the House. Additionally, the same thing happens when we have a few person advantage and a handful of “Republicans” vote along with House Democrats to kill perfectly good bills, and conversely pass pretty awful ones. If you know some good Conservatives in your district, please urge them to sign up to run in June.
It would go a long way to prevent days like today. Additionally, we need some strong Conservatives in the Senate that actually send us Conservative legislation.
We learned that Rep. Andy Renzullo (R-Hudson) and the Hudson delegation delivered a memorial to Hon. Bob Clegg who passed away in August 2023. The House also passed via voice vote SB468, a bill which designates a portion of Rt. 111 in Hudson as the Sen. Robert E. Clegg, Jr. Memorial Highway. Bob Clegg was a hard working good man who helped many people in need. May his memory be a blessing always.
We learned that SB359, a bill to raise the age of marriage from 16 to 18, passed 192Y-174N after two floor amendments failed, which would have carved out exceptions for emancipated minors. The bill states, “no person below the age of 18 years shall be capable of contracting a valid marriage, and all marriages contracted by such persons shall be null and void”. This bill repeals statutes that currently provide legal avenues for minors to marry. RSA 457:6 now allows parents and guardians of minors between the age of 16 and 18 to petition a family court to grant permission for legal marriage. Emancipated minors can already engage in “grown-up” activities, like having their own apartment and jobs and entering into contracts. SB359 allows no exceptions. There is so much wrong with not allowing exceptions to this new restriction. First of all, it is clear that House Democrats would rather see 16 and 17-year-olds who get pregnant and have abortions instead of getting married and having a family unit to bring stability to their lives. It is also clear that House Democrats feel that “children” aged 16 and 17 do not have the maturity to get married but are certainly encouraged and welcomed to decide to change their gender and undergo surgeries and chemical castration. The logic totally evades me and many others. We heard stories during floor debates of people who got married at young ages and successfully raised a family and stayed together. Alas, this bill passed with no exceptions allowed, and it looks like NH will raise the legal marriage age to 18. This was the first disappointing bill sent to us from “the other side of the wall”.
We learned that SB316, which establishes a penalty for a person who transports fentanyl-class drugs into NH with intent to distribute, died when the OTP Motion failed 137Y-229N and then was ITL’d with a voice vote. An attempt to recommit this to Criminal Justice to work on it some more died 172Y-180N. Again, some folks talk about dealing with the fentanyl crisis that is killing our citizens, and yet here we are, not passing legislation that would give even harsher penalties to drug dealers. Go figure.
We learned that SB376 passed 192Y-170N. This is a bill that establishes a corrections (as in jail) education and vocational planning group. Now, incarcerated people can already get education and training while doing time, and they make use of Pell grants and also get career counseling… but now even more of your tax dollars can go to hire people to do more planning and coordination with our universities to help folks like Adam Montgomery get a college education while incarcerated. Sounds like jail is becoming a more attractive place to be.
We learned that SB414 was Tabled 340Y-24N. This bill would have established a mandatory minimum sentence for the crime of distribution of a controlled drug with death resulting. There were actually some problems with this bill, but we did not even get to hear the debates as the Table Motion came up right away. The interesting thing was that Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D-Peterborough) argued against tabling the bill because he said we shouldn’t use a Table Motion to kill a bill…we should listen to the argument… Well, hold onto that thought….
We also learned that HB563 would prevent local governments from adopting “sanctuary” policies that would shield wanted immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Several municipalities have, in recent years, taken it upon themselves an authority not granted to them in the New Hampshire or US Constitutions and have adopted “sanctuary city” policies. In any case, guess what our friend Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D-Peterborough) did??? He put forth a motion to Table the bill in order to kill it and not hear the debate. Hypocrite much? Rep. Terry Roy (R-Deerfield), in his floor speech, said that he didn’t think tabling a bill should be used to kill a bill. Pointing out Rep. Wheeler’s hypocrisy was priceless…nonetheless, the bill died on the Table with a roll call vote 188Y-177N, with 8 Republicans helping to kill this bill. This was a shame.
We also learned that SB219, is a bill that would have school districts provide mandatory reporting of school expenses – giving the public more accountability and transparency. The House Democrats fought long and hard over the course of the day to kill this bill, and in the end, they succeeded. At first, early in the day, the bill was passed OTP 180Y-179N with the Speaker breaking the tie vote. At 3:55 PM, the Democrats asked for Reconsideration, which passed on a roll call vote of 185Y-181N, after which a roll-called OTP motion failed 182Y-184N. Then a Table Motion was made which resulted in 184Y-183N with the Speaker again breaking the tie and sending the bill to the Table. Then, at 5:05 PM, Democrats made a motion to remove the bill from the table, which passed 176Y-174N, after which, seeing as they had the numbers, an ITL Motion passed 178Y-172N with a subsequent Reconsideration motion failing 173Y-177N. House Democrats successfully killed a bill that would have allowed YOU to better see how schools spend your tax dollars. It was apparently very important for them to work so hard all day to kill this bill! Remember that in November.
We learned that SB341 was another important bill that House Democrats and five “Republicans” killed. This bill, as amended, creates a lawful requirement that educators and schools respond in a complete and honest fashion to inquiries from parents and guardians about their children. This bill was Indefinitely Postponed 185Y-176N on a roll called vote. 185 people voted to make sure schools keep information from parents about their children. House Democrats claim this is “to protect children and their Constitutional Rights to privacy”. Never mind that parents have responsibility for their own children or that parents have the right to know what their kids are doing. House Democrats continue their war against parents and their right to know anything going on in our schools.
We also learned that there was lots of heated debate and many motions with regard to SB380 which would move New Hampshire’s primary to June. We started out with an OTP motion which failed 170Y-196N, with a small contingent of Republicans who didn’t like this bill either. A roll called ITL motion passed 190Y-176N. Then there was a Reconsideration Motion that passed 191Y-175N, after which a Table motion failed 175Y-192N. The whole mess ended with a roll called Indefinite Postponement motion which passed 189Y-178N with 8 Republicans helping to kill this. Rep. Ross Berry (R-Manchester) said the current primary schedule favors incumbents, as it gives them an edge in fundraising and campaigning. I think June would be a better time simply because college kids from out of state won’t be around campus to vote in our primaries. That was reason enough to support the bill.
We then learned that another knucklehead bill came to us from the Senate. SB456 is a bill that would take taxpayer money and use it to pay off student loans for qualified nursing professionals. This expands the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Rural Health (ORH), and this bill makes an appropriation of $300,000 to be directed specifically toward nursing professionals, ostensibly to lure more people into open job slots because we need more nurses now that we let tons go because they didn’t like vaccine mandates during COVID… but I digress… In the bill there’s no guarantee for them to remain employed after having their loan repaid by NH taxpayers. This unfortunately passed 187Y-177N, and I just want to know when I can join this gravy train and have my mortgage paid off by NH taxpayers too since loan forgiveness seems to now “be a thing”. I jest though… because I am an adult and realize that I am responsible for my own obligations.
We also learned that we killed SB496. This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a climate and health protection program. As if they don’t have enough to do. Thank goodness the ITL motion passed 186Y-182N. Yet another bonehead bill from the Senate.
We learned that SB63 sought to clarify, in statute, the subject matter of which health officers may utilize their authority to draft health ordinances. House Democrats decried the bill as having the basic intent to curtail the authority of municipal public health officers and to limit the ability of towns and cities to enact ordinances in response to public health threats. Rebuild NH stated, “Currently health officers have unlimited authority to make any ordinance they wish. This bill limits their ordinance authority to only “nuisances” and that term is well defined in law. By passing this bill, health officers will no longer be able to make any ordinance in the next pandemic like we saw during Covid with mask mandates and such, but will retain their authority to make ordinances about situations that might arise in their towns.” The bill failed with a roll called OTP Motion 181Y-182N, and then was tabled on a voice vote.
We also learned that SB538 was killed on a roll called vote of 188Y-173N. This bill was an omnibus mess with multiple parts and numerous problems to mention. First, the bill looked to permit the governing bodies of municipalities to grant tax relief to developers and passing that relief to be picked up by all other municipal taxpayers. Next, the legislation proposes giving the ability to change zoning to the local governing body rather than by warrant article which requires the vote of the town’s citizens. Allowing and delegating to a small group of individuals, the ability to change the municipality’s zoning on very short notice without time for the citizenry to consider and vote on the proposed changes, is bad governance. The legislation goes on to further propose “alternate parking solutions” which were problematic at best for zoning boards and applicants. Enough with dictating state “solutions” to local issues. Yet another stellar mess from the folks on the other side of the wall.
We further learned that SB476 passed 217Y-144N on a roll called vote, to appropriate another $40 million to begin to renovate The New Hampshire State Prison for Men which was built in 1878 with additions and renovations made in the 1980’s. The current population is a little over 1000 prisoners with its max capacity roughly around 1400 prisoners. The place needs work and its said that prison cells may not meet the industry standard and pose safety concerns for the inmates and corrections officers. The estimated costs for these improvements exceed $400 million over the next ten years, more than half the cost of building a new, more-modernized utilitarian facility which is estimated to cost, at this writing, $584 million (and probably more than that).
We learned that we passed the very important legislation, SB603 (how apropos) 257Y-103N, which would direct the Department of Energy to continue and accelerate work already begun to conserve and reclaim telephone numbers to allow the 603 area code to be preserved as the sole code for the entire state for as long as possible. Another critical piece of legislation from the Senate. And yeah, we get that it’s an “identity thing”.
We also learned that SB471, to add a speed limit of 45 miles per hour on rural highways, was tabled 190Y-165N. This bill would have created a new statutory speed limit of 45 miles per hour (mph) and a definition of “unimproved” state highways. Currently the statutory state highway speed limit is 55 mph and the Department of Transportation (DOT) has the authority to lower it based on road design issues and conditions. Also, municipalities can request and receive lower speed limits in problem areas if it is supported by traffic engineering studies. So, this bill was wholly unnecessary, since there’s already a mechanism in place for municipalities to work with the DOT to evaluate roads and set speed limits. It’s good we put the brakes on this one.
Finally we learned that 2 bills were taken off Consent, but the one most noted was SB375. Originally on the Consent Calendar to go to Interim Study – this bill was relative to biological sex in student athletics. The committee recommended this bill be Referred for Interim Study, as a similar bill, HB1205, was passed by the House and sent to the Senate earlier this session. Both bills require school sports to be expressly designated as male, female, or coed. The overall intent of both bills is to ensure participant safety, fairness, and opportunity; however, this bill would allow any team, sport, or athletic event designated for males, men, or boys to be open to students of either sex, while any team, sport, or athletic event designated for females, women, or girls shall only be open to students of the female sex. There were problems with this bill, but who knows what the Senate will do with HB1205. Originally a motion to Table SB375 failed 162Y-195N and so the Interim Study motion was again considered and passed 200Y-154N. Reconsideration failed 118Y-233N.
Next week we get more fabulous Senate bills and more Concurrences for House bills that the Senate, in their infinite wisdom, have changed.
