New Hampshire Bulletin.<\/a><\/p>\nCONCORD \u2014 Two years after the New Hampshire House left Representatives Hall, Rep. Carol McGuire returned to the chamber\u2019s podium to talk about Oreos.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you know, the classic dunk is milk,\u201d the Epsom Republican said last week, speaking from the traditional \u201cwell\u201d to an assembly of lawmakers below. \u201cBut that tends to be discriminatory to our lactose intolerant constituents. And therefore, we needed to consider other options. Red wine, of course. But do you use merlot? Or burgundy, or what? I\u2019ve heard rumors of white wine, but that\u2019s just not the New Hampshire way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The occasion was significant: the planned return to the traditional, close-knit chamber after years of alternative venues across the state. As part of a mock session, the topic \u2014 a commission to study the interior of Oreos \u2014 was anything but.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bill was only filed because of the Washington, D.C., Oreo lobby and the sponsors\u2019 deep ties and addiction to \u2018Double Stufs,\u2019 \u201d said Rep. Steve Smith, the deputy speaker.<\/p>\n
New Hampshire\u2019s 400-member House will formally return as a body to Representatives Hall on Thursday in its first meeting since Speaker Sherman Packard announced the restoration of voting days in the traditional chamber. A week ago, however, the speaker invited lawmakers to a mock session to reorient members to the room and give examples of poor behavior at the podium.<\/p>\n
Throughout his speech, Smith was gaveled by Packard for brandishing a package of Oreo cookies on the floor \u2014 a forbidden use of a prop during a speech. He was told off for assigning ill motive to the sponsor of the Oreo bill, McGuire. And when he apologized to \u201cCarol,\u201d he was admonished for using her first name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so embarrassed,\u201d Smith said. The study commission bill failed, 14-27.<\/p>\n
The subject was frivolous, but the motivation behind the exercise was not, Packard said. In the years in which the chamber had left Representatives Hall, good behavior had plummeted, he said. Now, he was attempting to address bad behavior in advance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decorum in Bedford and Manchester was probably close to despicable by our members,\u201d Packard said, noting the noise and conversations on both sides of the aisle had reached unnecessary proportions.<\/p>\n
Some of the instructions to members were basic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very big gavel,\u201d said Paul Smith, New Hampshire\u2019s House clerk, holding up the giant wooden hammer next to his head. \u201cAnd when it gets swung down, especially when the speaker is banging it, that means \u2018shh.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n
House members\u2019 \u201cparliamentary inquiries\u201d \u2014 the summary speeches given just ahead of a vote on a bill \u2014 should be short and sweet, Smith said. \u201cWe\u2019ve gone on very long on those things lately, and I think we need to pull it back.\u201d <\/p>\n
And the chamber\u2019s dress code, while technically nonexistent, relies on the expectation of reasonableness, Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease dress in a manner that is respectful of the fact that you are sitting in the same room as a member 200 years ago,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
How well the House takes to the appeals to decorum on Thursday remains to be seen. Many Democrats have protested the decision to return to the chamber at all, citing health risks and advocating for more time in socially distanced spaces. A series of clear plastic barriers set up between Democratic and Republican seats have only inflamed partisan frustrations in recent days.<\/p>\n
But when they do meet, members will have a docket of bills more serious than Oreo cookies. Here\u2019s a glimpse of what\u2019s in store.<\/p>\n
Vaccine protections and abortion restrictions <\/headline><\/p>\nA few COVID-19-related bills will come to the House floor with a committee recommendation they be killed.<\/p>\n
They include allowing a person over 16 to get any vaccination against a communicable disease without parental consent; awarding expanded unemployment benefits to workers fired for refusing a vaccine mandate; and permitting people to file a civil rights complaint with the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission if they were denied a job, housing, or access to public venue based on vaccination status.<\/p>\n
Several other COVID-19-related bills have strong committee support, but it\u2019s questionable how much impact they\u2019d have if passed.<\/p>\n
One would expand the Patient Bill of Rights law to prohibit medical facilities from denying care to someone based on vaccination status, a non-issue according to testimony at a public hearing. The other would forbid the Department of Health and Human Services from demanding proof of vaccination to participate in its programs or receive its benefits and services, something the department has not proposed.<\/p>\n
The so-called \u201cfatherhood bill,\u201d which would allow a man, without proving paternity, to ask a court to halt a woman\u2019s abortion appears headed to interim study, a more polite demise than being deemed inexpedient to legislate. Opposition has been significant. Of the nearly 3,000 people who registered their position on the bill, just 34 supported it.<\/p>\n
An effort to repeal the recovery fund for the nearly 150 victims of the $20 million Financial Resources Mortgage Ponzi scheme appears to be going nowhere. The House Ways and Means Committee voted, 19-0, to recommend the bill be killed, saying the process was too far along to reverse course.<\/p>\n
Since the state began accepting applications in January, 16 people have submitted claims, Associate Attorney General James Boffetti said. The application period closes May 18.<\/p>\n
The fund\u2019s administrator will evaluate claims and decide awards, which are to be paid in December, Boffetti said.<\/p>\n
Green burials, cybersecurity and cyanobacteria<\/headline><\/p>\nHB 1320 would repeal the embalming statute, making clear that embalming is a personal choice and not mandated by the state under any circumstance. Advocates of so-called green burial, which eschews embalming and traditional caskets to promote natural decomposition, have pushed for this bill to ensure people\u2019s right to choose if they want to forgo chemicals. The bill is set to pass the House on the consent calendar, arriving with a 20-0 \u201cought to pass\u201d recommendation out of committee.<\/p>\n
The House is also poised to pass HB 1277, requiring the immediate reporting of cybersecurity incidents \u2014 a proposal that received a unanimous 19-0 \u201cought to pass\u201d as amended out of committee.<\/p>\n
HB 1066 originally sought to create a study commission to address health impacts of cyanobacterial blooms on humans, animals and the environment. The version of the bill arriving in the House, with a 21-0 \u201cought to pass\u201d recommendation, instead directs the Department of Environmental Services to create a plan to tackle New Hampshire\u2019s growing cyanobacteria problem.<\/p>\n
The House is set to kill a Republican-backed bill that would have required New Hampshire businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to check would-be employees\u2019 citizenship status. HB 1124 got a 20-1 \u201cinexpedient to legislate\u201d recommendation out of committee and is on Thursday\u2019s consent calendar.<\/p>\n
Wireless privacy protections<\/headline><\/p>\nThe House will consider a bill, HB 1282, that would prohibit wireless carriers from releasing names, addresses, and other information about its users to government entities \u2014 including police departments \u2014 unless the government obtained a search warrant. A bipartisan majority of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee said the bill is an important extension of a recently added amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing the right of privacy. But some opponents say it could tie up law enforcement investigations into people accessing child sexual exploitation imagery, which they said demanded quick action.<\/p>\n
The House is set to approve HB 1157, which would formalize into law New Hampshire\u2019s policy that the state\u2019s ballot counting machines may not be connected to the internet, as well as HB 1174, which would allow election challengers to observe towns\u2019 vote tallying processes from a distance of 6 feet or more.<\/p>\n
And the chamber will likely pass HB 1195, which would require that public school board or school administrative unit meetings include a public comment period at the beginning of the meeting that could be capped at one hour, and HB 1109, which would require voters at town meetings, not selectboards, to approve off-highway recreational vehicle allowances on town-controlled roads.<\/p>\n
A bill to prohibit profiling by police officers of motorcyclists, HB 1000, looks set to sail through the House on Thursday, as does another bill, HB 1474, which would remove the requirement that vehicle inspections be carried out in the owner\u2019s birth month, and instead allow them to scheduled any time within the calendar year.<\/p>\n
But one bill, to propose a state constitutional amendment declaring New Hampshire\u2019s independence from the United States, has a dim future Thursday. The bill received a 21-0 recommendation that it be killed by the House State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe committee believes that articles of secession are unconstitutional and therefore impossible,\u201d wrote Rep. Brodie Deshaies, a Wolfeboro Republican, in an explanation in the House Calendar. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n