Thoughts from the House Floor
To be clear, I'm grading on a curve. With the expectation that things are going to be mostly terrible during the biennium, anything that goes well is worth celebrating. And so this week I'm enjoying bits of happy news, even as gestures broadly continues.
Winning big for labor
First up, one of the biggest wins we're going to get on the floor: the union-busting "Right-to-Work" bill (HB238) died on Thursday morning. And, importantly, it died in a way that prevents it from coming back next year. The motion to kill it came from a Republican member, who was joined by 25 of his colleagues and 175 Democrats to bury the terrible legislation. It was a disgusting, snowy morning, but the union members turned out in force to see the vote, and they celebrated loudly when the results were announced. That drew the ire of the Speaker, as emotion is frowned upon in the legislature.
Speaking of emotional appeals, check out this video of a speech on the floor. Yes, I have edited it to remove the details of what it is about, but I promise the overall sentiment is accurate.
Believe it or not, that's a Republican member speaking to the need for vets to perform whatever procedures they want on cats (HB201).
It is, almost certainly, a bit of trolling vis a vis the debates about abortion access. If they want to have no limits on procedures performed by veterinarians on cats, in exchange for no limits on procedures performed by doctors on humans I'll happily take that trade. Instead, it is just disingenuous asshattery.
More wins
A second, more surprising win came on a vote about off-road utility vehicles. HB174 was proposed to increase the maximum weight allowed to 3500 pounds from the current 2000. There was no floor debate, just a simple voice vote expected to approve the committee recommendation that it move forward.
But the nay side was loud enough to catch the Speaker off guard and trigger a real count. Ultimately it was killed by a two vote margin, which is really just one voter since we don't have an abstain option. FWIW, the bill was opposed by most the people who make private land available as trails, and supported as a theoretical pathway for EV options in the market. My minimal research suggests there aren't many UTVs over 2000 pounds today, either gas or electric, so I'm not sure what's really going on there.
Finally, there was a surprise motion on the floor hoping to impeach a local judge for following the guidance provided by current state law regarding bail. In short, someone was arrested for a crime, released under the current rules, and then stabbed someone else. The Republican delegation seized on this as proof the judge was somehow broke the law and sought to punish her. Fortunately the motion required a 2/3 majority and failed. Also worth noting that the party previously supported the bail reform law, though that was back when it had a much smaller majority in the House and couldn't bully its way through as much.
HB57, allowing increased educational opportunities for those under supervision by the Department of Corrections, passed on the consent calendar, as did HB677, requiring schools to have EpiPens in stock. HB436, seeking to "solicit reports and testimony regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena" failed.
Even with the wins there were losses on several environmental bills. And a resolution about trying to seize an island from Maine passed, but almost certainly will not go anywhere.
Introducing the Budget
Before all of the above fun Governor Kelly Ayotte introduced her plans for the upcoming two-year budget. Apparently getting rid of cell phones in classrooms is a top priority, so significant that she's dedicating a million dollars to the effort.
There are some good things in the proposed budget, like boosting community college and technical education programs. The budget also calls for restoring funding to a pension program for public officials that prior Republican-led efforts took away.
But the overall budget still calls for massive cuts, and that's before the impact of federal cuts hits. It is going to be a rough couple years financially in New Hampshire because the prior budgets didn't plan for the future. We are very much entering the "find out" phase, and local taxes are where that's going to hit hardest.
A Personal Play
The week also saw me introduce HB249 in the Transportation Committee, an attempt to legalize the "Safety Stop" (a/k/a Idaho Stop) in New Hampshire.
I have no idea if it will go anywhere; we probably won't debate it in committee until March 4th. But I think I did a decent job both in presenting the rationale for making the change, and in answering the questions that came up.