The RLCNH Report: Be Sure to Sign the Anti-Groping Petition! - Granite Grok

The RLCNH Report: Be Sure to Sign the Anti-Groping Petition!

February 27, 2011: Your weekly access to happenings in legislative committees.
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The RLCNH Report
ACTION ALERT!
 
Stop TSA Sexual Assault! Victims of sexual predators and women who have had mastectomies may be the loudest group to complain about the TSA touching and viewing their breasts and genitalia, but in civil society no stranger should touch anyone in that way.   HB628 will make touching and viewing of breasts and genitalia by any government agent illegal without probable cause. Help keep your private parts,… well, private!  

 

A tax cap for the state!

CACR6 would amend the New Hampshire constitution to require a 2/3 majority of the legislature before any tax is raised. We all know the trouble the past two years have been. Make sure this can’t happen again by emailing the Ways and Means Committee before Wednesday March 9th.

 

Next week’s public hearings:

Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee

Sometimes government solutions for problems are worse than the problem alone.  People with life threatening illnesses are being arrested because they find medical effects of marijuana to be beneficial.  People who are vulnerable are being dealt with inhumanely by the incessant war on drugs.  Please come to the public hearing for HB 442 on Tuesday March 1st at 10:00AM in the Representative’s Hall, and show some compassion for patients.  If you are unable to make this hearing, pleaseemail the committee.  
Judiciary Committee

Children must get permission to take an aspirin, but medical professionals are not required to even tell parents before an abortion (an invasive medical procedure) is performed. This assault on the natural rights of parents must stop. HB 329 would require parental notification before abortions may be performed on unemancipated minors. Please come to the public hearing on Monday, February 28 at 10:00AM in LOB 206-208. If you are unable to make the hearing, please email the committee.

 


 
What happened in Concord last week:

Education Committee

Expand liberty for parents and students with HB 429.  HB 429 would allow students to withdraw from high school, with parents’ permission, at the age of 16.  Currently high school is required for students up to 18 years of age.  States that compel attendance only to age 16 have higher high school completion rates on average*.  HB542 is an even stronger bill which would eliminate the requirement that schools be provided to non-English speaking students over 16 years of age.  E-mail the committee before the executive session Thursday March 3rd.  
*(Source: “Dropout Rates in the United States: 2000,” pp.9-10, 40-41; National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Doc, No. NCES 2002-114.)  
Executive Departments & Administration (email the committee)
HB 332 would increase spending in Concord, and at the same time infringe on your privacy.  This bill would create a database to monitor prescriptions amassing a stock pile of information.  Will breaches of this information be a problem?  Yes, so much so this bill would create new felonies for people who abuse this information.  E-mail the committee this week to let them know that you want your relationship with any doctor to be private.  
Open source software is a free product that often serves the same purpose as well or better than proprietary software.  HB418 would require that spending on proprietary software be justified before a purchase is made.  Using open source software would save money for the departments.  Please E-mail the committee before Tuesday to encourage savings in Concord.  
Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services 
Right to work passed the house with a vote of 221-131.  This is a victory for freedom of association.  This bill spells out that no one should be forced to join a union.  
Ways and Means
There are a lot of bills that reduce taxes that are coming out of the Ways and Means committee.  Of these a very strong bill is HB 213 which would reduce the business profits tax by one percent over two years.  Please contact your representative and do more than urge passage of this bill.  Be sure to request that this bill not be laid on the table.  If this bill is placed on the table then the Senate will not consider this bill.  Don’t let HB 213 end up like the reduction in meals tax, (HB 166), which passed the house but remains on the table without effecting the statutes.  
Transportation
Do you want to cut spending in Concord?  HB 218 would do exactly that.  HB 218 would eliminate the New Hampshire Transit Authority (NHTA) and all the spending that goes along with it.  Representative John Hikel says that the NHTA continually states that New Hampshire residents would be willing to foot the upfront and operation costs for rail in New Hampshire.  If this is the case then we should expect the NHTA to incorporate as a profitable business after the passage of HB 218.  This bill had an executive session on February 16th and its status now is unclear.
Interesting bill in the senate:  Commerce 
The democrats over-regulation of the banking industry has made it impossible for the small loan business to exist in New Hampshire.  SB 160 would serve as a stop-gap measure allowing the small loan industry to exist again.  This would stop inhibiting job creation and allow for more free enterprise.  Please E-mail the committee and suggest that they not refer this bill and vote OTP:

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