This week, Finance met to hear another five bills. HB 1566, funding the childcare recruitment and retention program, was another attempt to replace federal funds with state. This time, it was for the full $15M we spent last biennium, and lots of providers came in to ask for our money. I was rather concerned about two issues: they always referred to childcare programs as “classrooms,” and knew nothing about the license exempt providers. These are smaller, home based operations that provide less expensive child care, often more what I was used to as “babysitting.”
HB 1569, repealing the directive that the state sell the Anna Philbrook Center for children property, was first argued as a historical building, situated in the midst of a government office park, that would be difficult to sell. Other supporters talked about the transitional housing currently in the building, which is very much needed and hard to replace (the center is not a good transitional housing situation, but most of the people in New Hampshire Hospital don’t need intensive psychiatric care any more, they’d be ready to move to transitional housing if we had any.) I’m OK with selling an office building that needs renovations, but a place for transitional housing? NH Hospital costs $1500/day and renovations for transition housing would probably be worth it.
HB 1750 was very straightforward: the federal government is changing its administrative support for the SNAP program from 75% to 50%, so this bill asked for the other 25% (actually a little less.) We discussed the program, and discovered that the 15% administrative rate is pretty typical for the state. Seems high to me, since NH has been cited for having a high rate of inaccurate payments (not fraud, as far as they can tell, just miscalculations and errors.)
HB 1399, giving the Claremont school district $5M (to use as they see fit!) was loosely based on the fact that Claremont was the first school district to have a major renovation project during the school building aid moratorium, and if there hadn’t been a moratorium, they’d have gotten more than the $5M… When asked, nobody know what the money would be used for, but suspected for operations. I’m not in favor of this one!
HB 1411, directing the state treasurer to withhold payments to the federal government if the state was deprived of federal aid due to an executive order, was an anti-Trump effort that urged the treasurer to commit a felony! Only the sponsor spoke, so I don’t see it going anywhere.
The House met Thursday to hear the Governor’s State of the State address. She was very upbeat and proud of what we accomplished last year.
We passed 91 non-controversial bills on a voice vote, then special ordered HB 1193 to the next order of business. HB 1193 names the new 911 call center in Laconia in honor of Bruce Cheney; it had the usual laudatory speeches before passing on a voice vote. I was one of the few who voted no, not for any problems with Mr Cheney, but because he’s still alive and I believe this sort of naming honor should only refer to deceased individuals.
HB 1556, creating enhanced penalties for domestic violence in the presence of a child, was killed without comment.
HB 1697, exempting firearms manufactured in New Hampshire from federal firearms laws (as long as they stayed in the state) was debated and passed, 188-164.
HB 1793, prohibiting public colleges from banning firearms, was debated at some length but on the usual issues. Opponents also insisted college students aren’t mature enough to carry weapons, but they are old enough to debate the issue (we have at least three college students in the House, and one was the prime sponsor!) The bill passed, 188-165.
At this point, the Democrat leader moved to suspend the rules in order to late introduce a bill to ban the planned ICE facility in Merrimack, or similar ones elsewhere in the state. This motion was debated and failed, 162-187.
HB 1448, prohibiting the use of World Economic Forum materials for school curricula, was debated and killed, 184-167. HB 1832, adding parents on active military duty to the priority list for education freedom accounts, was quietly amended to refer to children residing in New Hampshire, rather than a parent on active duty here. The debate was all about Democrats’ opposition to these accounts, and the bill passed, 198-164.
HB 1081, requiring candidates to certify that they don’t have over $1,000 in receipts or expenses, rather than requiring filing from those who do, was killed without comment. HB 1487, creating an independent redistricting commission, was debated before being killed, 189-164. Having worked on the last redistricting, I can’t imagine anyone being willing to do the work if they didn’t care about the outcome. Trying to claim the commission is independent means that their partisanship would be hidden rather than obvious.
HB 1098, changing rights of property owners on Class VI roads, was tabled before the debate. HB 1196, repealing the state housing champion program, passed, 185-166, after some debate. HB 1405 asked the state housing finance authority to guarantee up to $300M in loans for low income housing projects that are too risky for private lenders. This was debated and killed, 186-162. Then HB 1612, banning the use of “price fixing algorithms” by landlords, was tabled, 198-147.
HB 1661, expanding the “community heroes” program, would subsidize home purchase for “essential workers,” leading to the knotty problem of who determines who’s essential. It was debated and killed, 179-166. HR 30, declaring that planning and zoning are the responsibility of municipal government, was debated and killed, 259-81, a motion to reconsider failed, 72-274.
CACR 13, a constitutional amendment eliminating references to the register of probate, passed 325-15, without comment. All duties of the register of probate were eliminated twelve years ago, but the constitution still calls for election.
HB 1123, requiring some companies to post salary ranges on public job listings, was debated and killed, 193-149. Many companies do post salary ranges or starting salaries, but we didn’t think every company needed to do so for every job. HB 1168, extending the time for employers to respond to wage claims, was briefly debated before passing, 175-162. HB 1352, adding mediation to the dispute resolution process for medical bills under workers compensation, also had a short debate before being killed, 184-153.
HB 1485, allowing any payer of the gas tax (“road toll”) to late request a refund if the gas was not used on the roads (construction equipment, for example), passed without comment. Current law only allows municipalities to request refunds late.
HB 1088, transferring funding for the water well board from the general fund to a dedicated fund, passed on a voice vote. HB 1477, regulating seasonal floating platforms on public waters, actually creates a permit for such platforms. The committee amendment exempts shellfish farmers, and the bill passed, 284-47, without debate.
HB 1751 creates a 5% surcharge on paid parking (only) at state parks and remits it to the town. It passed without comment.
HR 24, honoring Tadeusz Kosciuszko (a hero of the Revolutionary War), passed quietly. HB 25, recognizing Bhutan as responsible for the forced eviction of over 100,000 people, had a long, convoluted debate before passing, 220-115.
HR 45, asking congress to recognize that the Portsmouth harbor islands belong to New Hampshire, not Maine, was actually debated before passing, 205-129. Our state flag shows one of those islands, with a ship built there, so it’s clear they belong to us!
HB 1452, allowing parents to teach their children to drive, failed, 178-155, without debate. I voted for it.
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