We learned that Rep. Mike Yakubovich (R-Hooksett) has a son named Max that can really sing a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. We also learned that Rep. Gary Hopper (R-Weare) has been doing well with chemo treatments and was able to join us for Wednesday’s House session and was greeted by the House with a much deserved standing ovation.
May he be able to join us for the remaining House sessions this term.
We learned that Hon. Barbara French (D-Henniker) who last served in the House from 2012 to 2016 passed away in April and members of the House took time to remember her during our session.
We also learned that Rep. Salloway (D-Lee) will not be running for re-election and he gave a heartfelt and unifying unanimous consent speech during Wednesday’s session where he praised and mentioned Rep. Aron (R-Acworth) on her speech about Israel a few weeks ago. It is nice when we can all agree on the notion that no matter our differences, that we should all come together for the benefit of our state.
We learned that UNH and their Cooperative Extension supplied an amazing BBQ lunch out on the State House lawn Thursday and showcased their different departmental studies programs! It was a lovely lunch break for the Legislature!
We learned that as the Senate kills really good Republican House bills, we will simply add the language of those bills onto some desired Senate bills and then send them along to committee of conference and let the chips fall where they may. The next couple of weeks will be interesting to see what the Senate conferees will do with that. And yes, they will do that to our bills as well. It’s a well-known legislative game that is routinely played at the end of the year.
We learned that despite all the brouhaha over SCOTUS Roe v Wade news this week, the House Democrats could not do anything but grandstand and posture, and pull SB399 off consent only to have it tabled (177-156). Thankfully, another House bill that formerly passed, duplicated the language in SB399 regarding clarification of ultrasound requirements and fetal anomalies, for the Fetal Life Protection Act that was passed last year in the NH Legislature. The 24 week abortion ban remains intact in NH.
Of course, their protests about SCOTUS and Roe v Wade would not have been complete without Rep. Debra Altschiller (D-Stratham) making statements about “reproductive servitude” while presenting her motion for an amendment to pass a Constitutional Amendment that would codify abortion access. I’m wondering if we can locate an Oscar for her dramatic performance. The nominee for supporting actress in this category is Rep. Marjorie Smith (D-Durham).
We learned that a new Congressional redistricting map is on the way after the passage of SB200 (179-159). Rep. Ross Berry (R-Manchester) did a superb job of coming up with a map that satisfied all of the concerns of the House Democrats expressed over the previous map. In this competitive map, Rep. Berry kept counties together, kept economic communities together, and even had a low population deviation! The House Democrats still rejected it in the end because it’s not all about what they really complained about in the previous maps, but all about wanting to stack the deck so their candidates win every time. They were also very upset that with this map because Congressional candidates Kuster and Pappas would now be in the same district as a result. As if we should build maps around candidates … (eye-roll). Word has it that the Governor hates it as well.
We learned that a few bills seeking to fundamentally transform the way we do government got killed (SB222, SB339, and SB344). Those would have opened the door to more “remote participation” in government business such that people could attend meetings in their pj’s over zoom calls instead of actually facing people in person in licensing boards and commissions, and doing important work. House Democrats want so badly not to actually come to work… maybe we should vote them all out in November so they won’t have to!
We learned that House Republicans passed SB345 (185-152) to relax rules on youth employment in the areas that tend to be confusing and difficult for employers. The law was simplified and will make it easier for teens to work and earn some money while assisting employers with problems they are having with a tight labor market. Of course, for Rep. Tim Smith (D-Manchester) you’d think we’re going back to the 1800s and workhouses. He also put out an Oscar-winning performance while screeching that we were “filling empty shifts with child labor.” These folks sure have a penchant for the dramatic and conjuring up visions of Charles Dickens’s England.
We learned that throughout the 2 days of floor debates on bills we had Rep. Woodcock (D- Center Conway) rambling on about getting lost because of some GPS issues on his cell phone, Rep. Marsh (D-Wolfeboro) talking about the inability to get adequate answers about erectile dysfunction if we didn’t pass SB382 (telehealth compact bill) and Rep Walz (D-Bow) exclaiming that “there is no voter fraud in NH” (as we considered SB418 which passed 164-155 which would create affidavit ballots requiring proper voter identification). The verbiage coming from the House Democrats in these 2 days was entertaining and laughable. Where do they come up with this stuff? Do they practice it in their caucus I wonder?
We learned those floor speeches do not compel people to vote one way or another. Rep. Schamberg (D-Wilmot) rambled on for at least 25 minutes about why we shouldn’t pass net operating loss carryover (SB435) after which Rep. Lang (R-Sanbornton) gave the shortest speech of the day asking us to vote “Yea”. With all that, SB435 passed via voice vote, and only 1 or 2 voices voting “Nay” in the end. Brevity wins.
We learned that parents of special needs kids will finally get their own office of advocate for special education which will help them solve special needs problems. SB381 passed 170-155 and it is amazing to me that the House Democrats would not want to give these parents what they have long been asking for to help advocate for their children. Whatever happened to “it’s for the children”?
Finally, we learned that the House Republican majority passed many good bills, and killed or tabled some bad ones. It was a good 2 days of work and now we’ll be waiting for the House bills to come back from the Senate with Concurs or Non Concurs while committee of conferences begin. The next couple of weeks should be interesting. The next question after all this is of course, “What will our Governor do”?
