We learned that it was possible for the House to get all of its bills done in time for Crossover Day. It was a long day though, made even longer with some additional floor amendments piled onto HB1627 in the afternoon.
None of the floor amendments passed, but some House members decided to try to offer floor amendments and try to get the bill Tabled along the way. Why? Because the bill had a Medicaid amendment tacked onto it which could potentially cost the state $60 million, and some House members thought that they could get the bill Tabled. Unfortunately, the strategy failed. Now the amended bill goes to the Senate.
We learned that the House Resolution, HR15, condemning the Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China passed via voice vote, with nary a motion or debate by the Democrat caucus. (Surprise!) We also passed HR17 (178-159) which opposes all federal and state efforts to establish a carbon tax on fuels for electricity and transportation. The Republican caucus thinks you are paying quite enough already for fuel and has no desire to tax you more… All of the Democrats present, however, disagreed. A roll call was taken. You should check it out.
[I checked it out for you: Republicans voting with the Democrats to effectively raise your gas cost and heating oil prices (via a NAY vote) were: Max Abramson (R) Rock. 37; james Allard (R) Merr. 21; and John Hunt (R) Ches. 11 -Skip]
We learned that 3 Transportation bills that would have allowed illegal/undocumented aliens to have drivers licenses (HB1093: rollcalled 186-161), (HB1463: division vote 177-154) and (HB1666; rollcalled 189-160) all died thanks to the Republican caucus. I hope we “drove the point home” that illegal/undocumented aliens should not be given drivers licenses which would also allow them to easily vote in NH elections. Maybe we need to work on VOTER ID cards instead of relying on drivers licenses for Voter ID. Ya think?
We learned that no one licensed by the state to drive and having a NH registered vehicle should have to disclose their mileage and personal information to any public taxing authorities. HB1401 was killed 189-160. This sets up some serious NH resistance to the Federal Infrastructure bill which provides for per mile usage taxes. These federal tax ideas are enough to drive you crazy!
We learned that the House Tabled 2 election integrity bills (HB1064: rollcalled 270-75) and (HB1473: rollcalled 251-94). The first was requiring the use of hand-marked durable paper ballots in NH which would be hand counted, and the other authorized a forensic audit of the Nov 2020 election in a handful of NH towns. Citing cost to taxpayers and other complications, the Election Law committee sought to kill both bills. How would you have voted? Better yet – ask/see how your State Rep voted.
We learned that the House did not want to change how the NH Attorney General is appointed. CACR24 died 253-87 and would have allowed for the Attorney General to be selected by the House and Senate – the same way we elect our Secretary of State. We also killed CACR27 (254-85) which would have allowed for the recall of state court judges. Right now judges (and the Attorney General as well) are appointed by 4 people (the governor and 3 executive council critters). Additionally we killed CACR25 (301-40), allowing for legislative term limits; no more than 15 terms- that is 30 years! Which sounds more like a prison sentence. Seriously though, it was felt that this would take away choice from voters and damage institutional knowledge.
We learned that the bonehead bill of the day was CACR26 which would have required 100 of our 400 State Representatives (¼ of the House) be selected not by you the voters, but by some new scheme based on a “party-list proportional representation election system”… or the party leaders decide. Thank goodness that died 324-8. It is incredible that even 6 people were convinced to agree with the 2 sponsors of this bill. Once again sanity prevailed.
We learned that sexist comments were not a problem to Democrats today. Rep. O’Brien (D- Nashua) debated HB1417 having to do with retirement system contributions. What he said was, “when you get your paycheck, you went home to the wife, and you gave her the cash after you cashed the check, and then said honey go buy the bread, you were 2.13% in arrears just by that act…”. Imagine that, not an eye was blinked by woke Democrats in the chamber, and I can only imagine the riot that would have broken out had a Republican uttered those words.
We learned that HB1609 passed 231-114 (rollcalled), which allowed for exemption of fetal abnormalities inconsistent with life and clarification of ultrasound provisions in the fetal protection act which was passed last year into law. The original bill would have gutted the current 24 week abortion ban. It is good that the original proposed bill was aborted.
We learned that $35 million for a new legislative parking garage was tacked onto HB1661- a bill having to do with regional technical education agreements. The amendment passed 271-65 (rollcalled) and the whole thing passed via a voice vote. Well… I guess that’s what you do with surplus state money… do not pass GO… instead put your top hat or metal car on Free Parking.
We learned that our state is on the way to legalizing cannabis. The House passed HB1598, along with a few floor amendments, with a rollcalled vote 169-156. Funny that Rep. Knirk (D-Freedom) rose to speak about this bill and his seat number is 4-20. The plan to set up an initial 3 state stores and sell cannabis tax free using the same model as our state liquor outlets. Billed as a new income stream that will help us lower property taxes and help pay off retirement fund obligations, it is now on the way to the Senate. 169 House Reps hope that those plans don’t get smoked by the folks “on the other side of the wall”.
We learned that when it comes to bills that need additional “work”, the 7 most terrifying words in the House are, “It will get fixed in the Senate”. Heaven only knows what they will do some of these bills that may need some tweaking.
Finally, we learned that we’ll be back for more as the House Committees go though Senate bills in April. It will be our turn to “fix their bills”. Wink. Stay tuned.
