Considering that the RTK Tax, aka HB 1002, still needs to go to the whole House, it’s not yet dead, but in hospice care. I expect Rep Kuttab and Judge Lynn to perform CPR on it from the Reps Hall mic with the same fervor that an ambulance crew responds to a 911 call. It’s just a question of who drives and who tends the patient bedside.
I’ll discuss this battery unit pair from Windham in more detail in a moment, but consider this “Part Deux” of my previous article.
I’ve modified the title for a few reasons. One of them is that it’s already known that anyone can email any senator using their “leg.state.nh.us” email if they so choose, which I recommend at least copying to, hence my focus on just the House. Emailing a government address gets your attempt to make contact on the record. I used the “jury still out” comment anecdotally because I’m talking about lawyers, and there are seemingly way too many of them involved in the People’s Work to count.
A follow-up piece is in order because Granite Staters need and deserve an update on the situation since my last piece. After submitting it, I watched the House Judiciary’s executive session (you can do the same by using this link and advance to 1:32:15 if you have the next hour to spare). That hour is so full of discussion on how hard Kuttab worked on HB 1002, her amendment, and her project of keeping a spreadsheet of all 50 states’ RTK law details.
Um, isn’t that what OLS and staff are for?
I also observed that Mr. Testerman, one committee member who uses a personal email address, played hookey.
Marjorie Smith, the other member who uses personal email INSTEAD OF a government-issued address, revealed to the committee that she’s an active advocate for privacy, hence the preference for personal email, I suppose. That was said at 2:16:59 when she called out Judge Lynn for talking about helping Kuttab with her application to law school!
Yup, he started singing her praises (as a future law student) at 2:10:10, and therefore, I suggest that their relationship be investigated for any impropriety. Before anyone’s imagination runs wild, you don’t have to block the kiddos from reading this. I’m talking in the professional, scholastic, ethical, and political sense.
I could go on to explore other government bodies and which members use government email addresses and those who don’t because I’ve been told it varies. However, I’m keeping my focus on the state legislature, but if someone else wants to focus on local boards, committees, and commissions, I’d be interested in the findings.
Meanwhile, I am still waiting for a reply from Attorney Lehmann and/or the Senate Judiciary members to my early Wednesday morning email that asks if non-government email accounts(of the legislature) are subject to 91A. They might think it’s now moot, but the answer still matters.
