The House is resuming work after the summer break. My committee is meeting on our retained bills: the subcommittee I’m on met and agreed that HB 84, declaring Ona “Oney” Judge Day and naming the new terminal at the Pease international airport in her honor should be simplified to a one-time celebration, using her preferred name (Ona Judge Staines).
And letting the Pease commission decide how to name their terminal. We’ve heard that Mrs. Staines is a likely honoree.
HB 457, on the membership and duties of the legislative youth advisory council, was a little more difficult. We weren’t convinced the definition of the council needed to change and, in fact, aren’t really sure we need such a council. We agreed in principle that that remote meetings should be allowed and assigned one member to work up the amendments.
I’m also on the redistricting committee, and we will be assigning the state representative and the congressional districts for the next decade. Congress is easy: the districts have to be whole towns, contiguous, and equal in population. How we split the state is a political decision. State house districts, on the other hand, must also stay in one county and, as much as possible, give every town its own representative. However, with each district having only 3444 people per representative, making the numbers work is a nice mathematical puzzle. The committee will be holding a public session in Concord, 6 pm on September 14, to hear concerns and issues from the public (plus additional meetings in each county.)
The filing period for next year’s bills is the second week in September, and I’m gathering data for the bills I’ve been asked to submit. Some are just too difficult to handle by myself: I’ve been looking into licensing for non-traditional vehicles, from several constituent requests, and decided I’d let the study committee finish their work and come up with a plan before I did something on my own. A defined contribution retirement plan is also something I’ve been thinking about, but don’t see a reasonable way forward this year.
If you have an issue with our state laws and think they need changes in some area, please get in touch me to discuss it.
Representative Carol McGuire
carol@mcguire4house.com
782-4918
