To my constituents in Allenstown, Epsom, & Pittsfield:
This week, the House met for the last time, until the veto session sometime in the fall, on the Committee of Conference reports. The two from my committee, SB 313 and HB 230, passed on a voice vote with no comment, as did many others.
SB 200, the congressional districts, was debated but passed, 176-171, with 10 Republicans joining all but one Democrat in opposition. Now the governor says he’s going to veto this map as well – after working with the conference committee!
HB 1431, the parental bill of rights, had a lengthy debate before it was not tabled, 169-173; then killed, 171-173, with 13 Republicans, including Representative Allard, joining all Democrats. I believe that much of the opposition to this bill was fueled by misinformation about what the bill actually said: a discussion with a teacher or counselor and a gender-confused child would be confidential, but if the teacher acted to, say, put a new name or pronoun in the school’s databases, that action would need to be reported to the parents.
The only other bill killed in the House was HB1333, on the DUI look-back period; it failed, 154-193, without debate, so I don’t really know why. (I voted for it, as it seemed likely that a third and fourth conviction wouldn’t show in a 10-year lookback.)
We celebrated the retirement of the dean of the House, Rep. Laura Pantelakis of Portsmouth. She has served since 1978!
A grandstanding Democrat (she’s running for the state senate) moved to suspend the rules enough to introduce, write, and vote on (without any public hearing or committee recommendation) a bill requiring background checks for all private gun sales (commercial sales, including at gun shows, have required such checks for years.) This would be similar to HB 1668, which was killed earlier this year, 179-144. (5 Democrats joined all Republicans.) This motion failed, 163-188, nowhere near the necessary 2/3 for a rules suspension.
My committee also met, to assign leaders to each of our nine interim study bills. Two don’t actually need study: HB 1557, on survivor allowances in the pension system, was studied in case something happened to HB 1497, which had included HB 1557; and HB 1556, on the prescription drug affordability board, where the similar SB 450 has passed the legislature. HB 1497 has been signed by the governor, and SB 450 is on its way to his desk.
I’m taking the lead on HB 1395, on administrative rulemaking; since the change I proposed for SB358 failed in committee of conference, I plan to use this as a vehicle to work out some of the details. HB 1061, on the midwifery council, will depend on the results of the OPLC study committee.
We have three bills with similar issues: HB 1429 (massage), HB 1444 (medical spas), and SB 230 (body art.) All three are attempts to require a new license for a facility that employs licensed professionals and seem to me to be attempts to solve local problems with state-wide regulations. All three are being worked together.
My HB 1191, on plumbing, gas fitting, and electrical work by unlicensed owners in duplexes, is being worked to clarify the exemptions from licensure. HB 1312, on waste disposal rulemaking, is going to consider the interaction of the building code (including the plumbing code) with the septic system rules. The building code review board was concerned that environmental services completely ignored plumbing requirements in generating their septic interface requirements.
