This week, my committee continued with public hearings. HB 1292 allows state retirees to include adult children up to age 25 in their health insurance, whether or not they are students; this is the same as the employee plan and private health plans. Since the parents pay the full cost for their dependents, the committee voted unanimously to recommend this bill.
HB 1435 would extend payments from the retirement system to former spouses even after the retiree returns to work and stops receiving a pension. In that case, there is no payment for the ex-spouse to receive a portion of, and the ex has no relationship with the retirement system – neither a member nor a beneficiary. This is a rare situation – there are about 650 split benefits (due to divorce court orders) for over 40,000 retirees, and even fewer are affected by a return to work. The retirement system is constrained by the New Hampshire constitution and statute and by IRS rules to only pay members and beneficiaries. The committee voted unanimously to kill the bill, with the court system as recourse in individual cases.
HB 1352, on firefighter protective equipment, intends to ban PFAS-treated gear unless there is no equivalent; the current technology for high-temperature protective equipment uses PFAS in one form or another, although manufacturers are researching other materials. Uniforms other than protective equipment, however, can be made from non-toxic materials. The bill went to a subcommittee to ensure it wouldn’t be a mandate on local fire companies and that it properly considers volunteer fire departments.
HB 1079, on critical incident stress management team members, started as a one-line addition to the current statute that added hospital emergency room personnel as potential members of these teams. The sponsor brought in a five-page amendment that added a lot of clarifying detail, so the bill went to a subcommittee to review the amendment.
HB 1070, on procedures in a state of emergency, essentially told state employees not to obey orders that would violate civil liberties or the federal or state constitution. Since the governor and council are now specifically barred from issuing such orders, it doesn’t seem the bill is needed.
HB 1267 prohibits the state treasurer or the retirement system from investing in funds that consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards in any way. While pure reliance on ESG is not something the state looks for in investments, many funds look at governance or assess environmental risks as part of their due diligence for investments. Saying they couldn’t is restricting the capability of the treasurer or the retirement system to maximize returns. We voted unanimously to recommend killing the bill.
HB 1451 is a recommendation of the retirement commission I chaired this fall: it includes “mandatory overtime” in base pay for pension purposes rather than pay over base.
This allows all mandatory overtime to be credited towards pension earnings since other overtime can be limited. This is an anti-spiking provision; it commonly happened that some late-career employees would work lots of overtime to pad their pensions. HB 1451 gets around that by requiring the employer to classify the overtime as mandatory – much harder to manipulate that way. The committee discussed what was mandatory and how to identify it; after a few rounds of discussion they agreed letting the employer define it was the most flexible way. The bill was recommended to pass unanimously after I thought about it for a while.
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HB 1548, recommendations of the joint committee on employee classification, presented that committee’s recommendations on employee pay classes and the pay ranges for a few employees who, because of special skills, were paid outside the classification structure (the state epidemiologist; pharmacy investigators.) After some explanations, we voted unanimously to recommend the bill.
HB 1411 would require all state agencies and their contractors to accept cash payments. The sponsor was concerned that low-income citizens would be penalized since many do not have bank accounts, and in particular, the Spaulding turnpike from Portsmouth through Rochester has been aligned to require E-ZPass payment. Those tolls no longer take cash; an EZPass account requires a $20 non-interest earning balance, and going through the tolls without an EZPass has penalties. Issues the committee brought up – and the sponsor could not address – included online transactions (fish & game licenses, professional license renewals) and tolls. The DMV, another government agency people deal with, does accept cash. The bill went to subcommittee to consider these complexities.
My HB 1271, converting a number of licensing boards to advisory boards, took a number of boards with fewer than 200 licensees (many fewer than 50!) and converted them to advisory boards. This is beneficial since these are the boards that have trouble getting members appointed, meet infrequently since they don’t have a lot of business, and are otherwise less responsive than we like. In addition, many licensees know each other, so
investigations are difficult. This went to subcommittee to consider if these are the right boards to consider and if advisory boards are the appropriate response.
HB 1408, merging and reorganizing various licensing boards, was a request of the governor’s office. Many boards and licensees objected, and so a subcommittee was called to work on the details.
Two bills I sponsored at the request of the governor’s office -both sections pulled from HB2 last year as needing specific evaluation – were HB 1285, merging the board of podiatry with the board of medicine, and HB 1286, merging the board of land surveyors with the board of engineers. The board of medicine didn’t mind covering the podiatrists – they deal with physicians, physicians’ assistants, and all specialties – but they opposed trimming the size of the board. The podiatrists were vehemently opposed to losing an independent board; with only 100 licensees, the subcommittee will consider an advisory board.
Both the land surveyors and the engineers objected to the board merger, and since both boards seemed to be operating effectively, I wasn’t convinced this was necessary. Both sets of licensees are substantial – 6500 engineers of several specialties and 450 surveyors – so I think we’ll leave them alone.
Thursday, we met in session for what should have been a short day. Forty-six noncontroversial bills – including two from my committee – were approved on a voice vote. Two new representatives from Coos County were welcomed: they were both Republicans, bringing the count to 200 R, 195 D, three I, and two open seats.
HB 1199, having the office of the child advocate collect data on homeless youth, was not tabled, 187-188, then passed on a voice vote. Both HB
155, updating court statutes to reflect the recent change for special education eligibility through age 21, and HB 1598, having federal payments (social security and veterans’) for children in foster care collected and given to the child when leaving foster care, were passed without comment.
HB 1237, forbidding unmarked police cars from being used for traffic enforcement, was debated, not killed, 162-213, then amended and passed on voice votes. The opponents were concerned that it was an unfunded mandate on local police departments; the amendment specified that unmarked cars can be used if the officer sees a traffic violation – they just can’t lie in wait to catch speeders. Marked cars are more effective at slowing traffic, if not at raising revenue by catching speeders – and local police here don’t profit from traffic tickets!
At this point we reconsidered our vote on HB 396, which allowed discrimination on the basis of sex in the specific cases of toilets and locker rooms, jails, and women’s sports. We had passed it, 192-184, on January 4; reconsideration failed, 187-190.
HB 1372, prohibiting torture, was killed, 319-58, without debate. Since any act that qualifies as torture is already illegal, this ban is redundant and unnecessary.
HB 1068, requiring a blood test for lead for any child entering public schools or childcare, was a duplicate of a bill (HB 342) that was vetoed by the governor last year. I opposed it then, as asking schools and day cares to enforce (without pay, of course) the state requirement of lead tests for children. After some debate – reminiscent of last year – the bill failed to pass, 189-190, then was killed on a voice vote.
HB 1520, establishing a car ownership program for some families on welfare, was debated at some length before not passing, 184-193, and being killed on a voice vote. I was opposed since the program would be expensive to run, might burden the individuals granted the cars with unsustainable insurance and maintenance costs, and is better handled by private charity.
CACR 23, putting a right to abortion in the state constitution, was debated at length, including one supporter who carried her few week old infant while she spoke! It did not pass, 193-184, as constitutional amendments require 60% of the legislature as well as 2/3 of the voters.
HB 1002, allowing municipalities or state agencies to charge fees for responding to large or complex right to know requests, was debated at some length. It passed, 193-179; I voted against it because I was concerned it didn’t strike the right balance between overburdening local employees and maintaining the public’s right to know. At least some of the opposition seemed to be concerned that public employees would maliciously inflate the time to respond to these requests and so charge excessive amounts – not my concern, I’ve found most public employees are trying to do a good job.
HB 1005, requiring training and continuing education for judges, passed without debate. HB 1248 would ban abortions after 15 days of pregnancy; before the debate started, a motion to indefinitely postpone the bill passed, 363-11. So the House won’t entertain any more bans on very early abortions this year.
HB 1230, creating a study committee on home weatherization, was debated at some length before being killed, 240-133. HB 1398, on cost recovery relative to net metering, went to interim study
without debate. HB 1499, a study committee on a clean energy and conservation corps program, passed without comment.
CACR 13, a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, was debated on an amendment that echoed the language of the federal constitution. This was all about the word-smithing, as nobody is in favor of slavery; the amendment was defeated, 168-201, and the bill passed 366-5.
HB 1179, granting military retirees free access to state parks, passed without comment. HB 1338, prohibiting state or local enforcement of the draft, was debated and killed, 266-101. The fact that the draft has not been used for fifty years probably had a lot to do with it.
HB 1391, allowing new cars not be inspected until the second year after purchase, was debated and passed, 241-123. Car inspections have not been shown to reduce accidents, and new cars are the safest and cleanest cars on the road; this is the first time I remember any reduction in mandatory inspections passing the House.
CACR 20, declaring independence from the US if the national debt goes to $40 trillion, had been pulled from consent, presumably by some representatives objecting to the committee’s recommendation to kill the constitutional amendment. Before the (undoubtedly lengthy) debate began, a motion to indefinitely postpone passed, 341-24.
HR 20, affirming the friendship between New Hampshire and Taiwan, had been pulled from consent so that the sponsor could make a long speech in support of the committee recommendation. After a few more remarks, the
resolution passed, 354-6.
HB 1447, prohibiting smoke emitters on motor vehicles, had a lengthy speech by the sponsor opposed to the committee recommendation.
Apparently, these “rolling coal” devices are prohibited by federal law, but that isn’t well enforced in New Hampshire, in his opinion. After some debate, the bill was killed, 308-46.
Friday, I met in subcommittee on HB 1466, disaster relief to small towns. We talked with the department of homeland security and emergency management, and found out that they were fully funded by federal grants, and so unable to work on a state grant program. The bill essentially set up a parallel organization, which seemed excessive. After some discussion, we agreed to amend the bill to simply authorize towns to ask the Fiscal committee for a grant once an emergency is declared. This will be quick and hold a town over until they have time to apply for a FEMA grant or hold a town meeting to authorize a loan. I’ll present this amendment to the committee this coming week, and see how it looks.
