What Just Happened? March 31, 2022 NH House Session Wrap-Up
On Thursday, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted on the remaining House bills in the 2022 session. Next week, our attention turns to Senate bills passed and “crossing over” for hearings and votes in the House. Here were some of the key votes from Thursday’s House session.
Reproductive Freedom
HB 1609-FN, a bill revising Gov. Sununu’s 24 week abortion ban, passed 231-114 after an unsuccessful attempt to table it. The bill would create an exception under the state’s new Fetal Protection Act for abortions performed 24 weeks into a pregnancy or later in the case of fetal abnormalities incompatible with life. It also changes the current ultrasound mandate for all women seeking abortions from 8 weeks to 24 weeks. What isn’t changing is the lack of an exception to the 24-week ban for victims of rape or incest or the penalty for doctors violating the law—a Class B felony charge involving jail time and up to a $100,000 fine. More from New Hampshire Bulletin
Drug Legalization and Regulation
HB 1598-FN, a bill legalizing the possession and use of cannabis and setting up a state monopoly to sell it, passed by a tight margin of 169-156. After being approved by the House by a much larger margin last month, questions raised in the Ways and Means Committee about revenue projections (now estimated at $20 million per year vs. $200-$250 million claimed earlier by the sponsors) combined with the potential negative impact on alternative treatment dispensaries for medical cannabis contributed to the tighter-than-expected vote. While several amendments were passed—including one that added cannabis-infused “edibles” to the list of products that can be sold—an amendment that would have substituted private sellers for a state monopoly failed 77-257. The bill heads to a Senate that has not generally been supportive of cannabis bills. But if it passes there, it faces an uncertain future when it reaches Gov. Sununu, who has vetoed every cannabis legalization attempt to reach his desk. HB 629,a separate bill that legalizes cannabis and allows the possession of up to 6 plants for home grow, but does not address a state sales or revenue model, is also now in the hands of the Senate. More from New Hampshire Bulletin
HB 1349-FN, which would have decriminalized the possession and use of psilocybin mushrooms, was tabled 210-132. It is likely dead because a 2/3 vote would be needed to bring it up for a vote. Although psilocybin mushrooms are non-addictive and show promise as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric disorders, there were concerns about making it legally available outside of controlled therapeutic settings without further study.
Public Health
HB 1604-FN was approved by voice vote. It requires hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical facilities operated by counties or the state of New Hampshire to allow exemptions to vaccination requirements on medical and religious grounds. The bill was amended to remove an exemption for “matters of conscience” that could have jeopardized $160 million in federal Medicaid and Medicare funding. However, the bill continues to be problematic because it paves the way for unvaccinated health care workers to continue working around vulnerable patients.
HB 1642-FN, establishing a blood lead level testing requirement for children entering day care and public schools, was killed by voice vote. The bill would have set more precise requirements for documentation of lead testing for children entering schools and day care facilities. (I was a cosponsor of this bill).
Public Service
HB 1524-FN, a bill that would have provided matching scholarship and student loan relief matches to benefit individuals who have completed one or more terms of service with either the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, was killed 194-149. Funded with $750,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, the program would have cost the state nothing. It also would have brought quality individuals into our educational institutions and our workforce.
Local Control
HB 1155, which would have prevented the member of a municipal board from being a voting member of another municipal board, was sent to Interim Study 255-83. Bills sent to Interim Study can be worked on and refined in preparation for the 2023 legislative session—or simply allowed to die by the committee chairperson.
Local and State Retirement Costs
HB 1417, which requires the state pay 7.5% of retirement costs for municipalities, school districts, and counties, survived an attempt to kill it by the House Finance Committee and was passed 186-159. The bill—also known as the “Property Tax Relief Act of 2022”—restores a small portion of the state’s contribution to local retirement costs which was slashed from 35% to nothing by the legislature in 2010. Should it go on to survive in the Senate and be signed by the governor, it would translate into $28 million in savings for local property taxpayers across the state. The bill received strong support from the New Hampshire Municipal Association and city officials in Portsmouth and Manchester.
HB 1535, a bill that originally would have provided a 1.5% cost of living increase for retirees in the state retirement system, was amended to substitute a $500 once time payment for the 1.5% increase. It passed 218-100 and the payment is limited to retirees whose annual retirement is less than $30,000 per year. More
Education
HB 1476, a bill that would have required representation from all districts on a cooperative school district board, was tabled 297-49. The bill would have changed the current law, which states that all school board members must be elected at-large within a district. It was filed by a state representative who lost her seat on her school board in the last election. More from Seacoast Online
Environment
HR 17, a non-binding House resolution opposing all federal and state efforts to establish a carbon tax on fuels for electricity and transportation, was passed 178-159. While no one is a big fan of taxes, a carbon tax is potentially an effective approach to begin moving away from our dependence on fossil fuels, reducing pollution and greenhouse gasses, and insulating residents of a state with no oil wells, gas fields, or coal mines from future fossil fuel price shocks. With climate change, New Hampshire is facing a future where taxes may unfortunately be the least of our worries. Burying our heads in the sand and passing meaningless resolutions does nothing to better prepare us.
Transportation
Two bills that would have allowed immigrants and refugees to obtain driver’s licenses were killed.
HB 1093, a bill that would have allowed people living in NH who have applied for asylum in the US to apply for a NH driver’s license without an SSN or Employment Authorization Document (EAD), was defeated 186-161. While the majority’s distain for Hispanics and other immigrant minorities provided prime motivation for killing the bill, not being able to get a drivers license will also negatively impact US allies fleeing to NH from Afghanistan and Ukraine.
HB 1666, allowing an undocumented person to obtain a drivers license after passing a driving education program, was voted down 189-160. The bill—which was supported by the NH Chiefs of Police Association, the ACLU, and the NH Council of Churches—would have ensured people who are likely already driving out of necessity to provide for their families could do so safely and legally.
HB 1424, which has generated the bulk of messages in my legislative email for the past month and would have repealed the daytime speed limit for watercraft on Lake Winnipesaukee, was killed by voice vote.
Criminal Justice and Public Safety
HB 1682-FN-A, a bill that creates an appropriation for the law enforcement conduct review committee in the New Hampshire police standards and training council, sailed through by voice vote. The bill appropriates $175,000 to hire an attorney and two investigators for the committee. The bill also establishes a comprehensive definition of what constitutes police misconduct and establishes procedures for filing and investigating complaints, holding hearings on complaints, and defines sanctions that may be imposed for misconduct by officers.
State Constitutional Amendments
The House acted on a series of Constitutional amendments. All required a 3/5 vote to move forward. None received even a simple majority.
CACR 24, which would have allowed the attorney general to be elected by members of the House and Senate instead of appointed by the governor, was killed 253-87.
CACR 25, providing that no person shall serve more than 15 terms in either the House of Representatives or the Senate, failed 301-40.
CACR 26, an amendment that would have allowed party leaders to choose 100 of the 400 representatives in the House, was defeated 324-8.
CACR 27, which would have made all state court judges subject to recall petitions and removal by a subsequent vote of registered voters, failed 254-85.
Shenanigans and General Mayhem
HB 1627, a bill establishing an administrative position to oversee education freedom accounts (aka school vouchers), was passed 204-131. The bill received bipartisan support and sailed through the Finance Committee, but had to survive two tabling motions and five failed attempts from Free Stater legislators and their allies to amend it with conservative priorities taken from other bills before it was finally approved—much to the relief of a hopping mad Finance Committee chairwoman. The attempt to kill the bill was part of a time-consuming tactic by a group of conservative GOP legislators who found themselves in the minority and were attempting to derail a bill with broad bipartisan support. More from New Hampshire Bulletin and InDepthNH