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To my constituents in Allenstown, Epsom, & Pittsfield: This week, the House and Senate met for the last scheduled session for this year (a veto session is possible.) With minimal debate and voice votes, we passed 30 bills, including three from my committee. The real action was on the budget, of course. HB 1, the … Read more
When there’s no difference between the voting records of Lou D’Allesandro and Rep. Sherry Frost (D-Dover), something has gone terribly wrong.
We learned that life is precious as we memorialized two House members, one past, one present, who recently passed away. The House paused to recognize the life and contributions of Rep. Doug Ley and the Hon. Jack Balcom. May they both be remembered kindly.
I won’t rehash the journey, you can find our coverage from both sides of this Budget Debate here, but the budget has been passed by the legisalture.
MANCHESTER, NH–JUNE 23, 2021–“Like many, I have watched with great interest the progress of the state budget and HB2, the ‘trailer bill.’ As I heard from many people about their concerns, I have sought to learn about its various provisions.
It is with a very heavy heart that the Merrimack Republican Town Committee (MRTC) announces the passing of the Honorable JACK BALCOM. Jack was an integral part of the Merrimack Community.
On Thursday, members of the New Hampshire House will vote up or down on House Bill 2, the budget rider bill that contains provisions enacting school choice, restrictions on public funding of critical race theory in New Hampshire schools, a ban on late-term abortions, and meaningful tax cuts.
Summary: GraniteGrok is asking that our ‘Grok friends in the Legislature, including the Freedom Caucus, to vote yes for the budget. And no, I’ve not lost my mind. I do expect, however, that this will tick a number of folks off.
This from House Speaker Sherm Packard. ‘We Need More Republicans:’ GOP House Leaders Working to Build Budget Majority.” No, you need the RIGHT Republicans – those that are Constitutionally literate and hold to those values?
This week, the House and Senate worked together to finalize bills amended by each other. I was assigned to four of these committees of conference, and three went very smoothly. For SB 133 and SB 104, omnibus bills on professional licensing and state employees respectively, we merely explained our amendment to the Senate and they … Read more
In a joint House-Senate committee today, the Senate openly carried out the governor’s bidding by adding language to the budget that would make his emergency powers fundamentally stronger than they have been over the past 15 months while including only nominal checks from the Legislature that functionally will not work to limit the governor’s power.
June 11, 2021: This week, the House and Senate met to consider amendments to each other’s bills (the House on Senate amendments to House bills, and vice versa.) Since, in most cases, the changes were minor (wording changes, effective date changes, making it one senator on a committee rather than three) we agreed with most … Read more
Longtime American Federation of Teachers Union President Douglas Ley has passed away from cancer. Representative Ley died last night at home, surrounded by family.
We learned that yesterday in “House Chambers South” (AKA NH Sportsplex in Bedford) it was “Concurrence Day”! It was a very good day to concur 51 House bills that were returned from the Senate with minor changes. Many good pieces of legislation are now off to the Governor’s desk! Additionally, there were 2 bills … Read more
Wolfeboro, NH “Republican” William Marsh is doing us all a favor. After running interference for Democrats from the right side of the aisle, he has voluntarily surrendered his committee chair, and rumor has it he will be leaving the GOP as well.
We learned that Rep. Susan DeLemus (R-Rochester) has an incredible voice. She graced us all with a beautifully executed rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.
One of the problems we keep having around here is the inability of this state to elected enough actual Republicans to get all the jobs done.
We learned that the Senate sure can pack a whole lotta “stuff” into Senate bills before they toss ’em over the wall to us! One of the bills (SB162-FN) they sent to us had 72 pieces of legislation in it! That would normally be 72 separate bills! There were some House members who voted against … Read more
This week, my committee finished its meetings for the year by recommending the last two Senate bills. SB 133, our licensing omnibus, was amended as we had agreed in previous meetings, then passed unanimously. SB 155 was not so agreeable. The original seven sections (one deleted as unnecessary) were amended as we had previously discussed … Read more
This week, my committee unanimously recommended two bills to the House: SB 58, which coordinated the statutory language for many of the licensing boards under the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification. Unlike other bills we’ve seen, this had almost no policy changes, just clarification, and synchronization. It set all quorum requirements as a majority … Read more