I was going to go through the entire list of bills introduced in the NH House of Representatives this year, but I got about half way through and ran out of steam. So I will just present a bunch of bills I found that are what I would consider extreme for NH, and you can go to the link above if you want to explore more. I will try to add notes about the context in our state.
As you read through, try to find a bill that creates jobs. That’s what they ran on.
2011-H-0007-R
title:
prohibiting the department of health and human services from entering into a contract with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. or any organization that provides abortion services and prohibiting the use of public funds or insurance for abortion services.
This is obviously part of the national campaign against Planned Parenthood.
2011-H-0008-R
title:
requiring parental notification before abortions may be performed on unemancipated minors.
NH had such a law but Planned Parenthood filed suit and it went to the Supreme Court, which found it did not have the exclusion for the health of the mother. What makes this particularly interesting is that the Attorney General who defended the state in the suit was Kelly Ayotte, who is now a US Senator elected in November in the Republican wave in NH. She arranged a payment to PP of $300,000 and managed to keep it out of the news for several years. Then she ran on “winning” the suit!
2011-H-0009-R
title:
relative to state authority over firearms and ammunition.
This and other bills about firearms expand what the supporters call “safety zones,” which are places firearms may be carried (as opposed to “killing zones” where guns are banned), bar executing federal law over firearms and ammunition manufactured in NH, make it legal to use deadly force to defend oneself in any situation (we used to have to flee if possible, now all we have to say after we have killed someone is that we felt “threatened”), etc. It is now fine to carry weapons into the legislative chambers in the NH State House, which makes us unique in the nation.
2011-H-0012-R
title:
relative to carrying firearms.
2011-H-0013-R
title:
repealing the department of education's rulemaking authority for home education programs.
This is part of the movement to let home schoolers do pretty much whatever they want and call it home schooling. There is also a bill to change the definition of child neglect to remove lack of education from the wording.
2011-H-0039-R
title:
relative to physical force in defense of a person.
2011-H-0070-R
title:
promoting parental choice in education and providing for an abatement from the education taxes for parents of children not enrolled in the public school system.
Municipalities would have to pay the parents of home schooled and private schooled parents a rebate of the property tax that we use to fund schools in NH. For those who don’t know, we have the “NH Advantage” which means no income or sales tax allowed. People move here because they hear about our “low taxes” and then they get their first property tax bill.
2011-H-0072-R
title:
requiring that New Hampshire join the lawsuit challenging federal health care reform legislation, and repealing the authority for state implementation of federal health care reform.
2011-H-0073-R
title:
relative to local spending caps.
Copying California, except not state-wide, yet.
2011-H-0078-R
title:
relative to lawful commerce in firearms, including manufacture and sale, in New Hampshire.
2011-H-0079-R
title:
establishing a permanent state defense force.
This is cool, a militia. I guess this is a jobs bill, but I thought we didn’t like to spend on those awful public employees.
2011-H-0065-R
title:
repealing the tax on gambling winnings.
This is one of many bills that will cut state revenues. I am sure that this will make the looming budget deficit better.
2011-H-0122-R
title:
relative to the adoption of the common core state standards in New Hampshire and relative to the substantive content of an adequate education.
To even start on the story of NH education funding is difficult. I did find a quick outline. The Democratically controlled legislature of the past 4 years did define an adequate education and what it should cost, and we thought we were finally in compliance with the finding of our Supreme Court, but the new legislature wants to go backwards. They want to remove the arts, health, technology and foreign languages from the definition of an adequate education, along with all sorts of other games with funding, etc.
2011-H-0124-R
title:
establishing a process for recall of United States Senators from New Hampshire.
New Jersey has tried this, it is unconstitutional per the US Constitution. However, we have a representative who considers himself a scholar of said document, and he is perhaps the weirdest law maker in the bunch.
2011-H-0140-R
title:
repealing the authority for regulation of certain professional occupations.
This one and others like it will keep the state from regulation hairdressers, barbers, etc. and will cost the state $800,000+ in fees (when you don’t have many taxes, those fees keep the place running) the first year.
2011-H-0223-L
title:
eliminating various taxes and fees and tax and fee increases enacted in fiscal years 2007 through 2010.
See the previous note.
2011-H-0235-R
title:
requiring valid photo identification to vote in person.
Numerous bills to keep people from voting, especially Democrats. College students are being targeted, as is the ability to register to vote at the polls. The latter would make NH’s waiver from the so-called MotorVoter act void immediately and would require the state to make sure that anyone who visits a Federal agency office be offered the chance to register to vote. I suspect this would cost the state some money.
2011-H-0254-Rs
title:
revising the child support guidelines based on foster care reimbursement rates.
This is nice. It would limit the amount of child support that would be allowed in a divorce to the amount paid a foster family. Even if one parent made a million bucks, the custodial parent would only be paid what a foster family would get per child.
2011-H-0257-R
title:
including "unborn child" in the definition of "another" for the purpose of first and second degree murder, manslaughter, and negligent homicide.
2011-H-0272-R
title:
urging Congress to amend the Internal Revenue Code to permit churches and other houses of worship to engage in political campaigns.
2011-H-0274-R
title:
relating to initiative petitions. Providing that referenda to enact laws may be initiated by petition.
Another attempt to make us CA-East.
2011-H-0289-R
title:
relating to taxation. Providing that a 2/3 vote is required to pass legislation imposing new or increased taxes or license fees provided that the legislature may increase the rate of taxes and fees with a majority vote in any fiscal year that insufficient revenues are provided to pay the principal and interest on a debt payable in that year, to which the state has pledged its faith and credit.
Another CA-East proposal.
2011-H-0288-R
title:
prohibiting a state agency from establishing a fee without legislative approval.
2011-H-0291-R
title:
repealing the New Hampshire rail transit authority.
The state does not fund this, but these guys hate trains. They hate them all over the country.
2011-H-0293-R
title:
establishing a state defined contribution retirement plan for state and political subdivision members of the retirement system and establishing a committee to study the transition of current employees into the new plan and administration of the new plan.
Get rid of the NH retirement pension system and put them all in 401(k)s.
2011-H-0317-R
title:
establishing a committee to study the abolishment of the department of education.
The NH Dept. of Education is the only place federal education money can go to.
2011-H-0326-R
title:
relative to voter registration and relative to procedures for absentee voting.
2011-H-0335-R
title:
(New Title) requiring the attorney general to join the lawsuit challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
2011-H-0339-R
title:
relative to physical force in defense of a person.
2011-H-0340-R
title:
relating to prohibiting any new tax on personal income. Providing that no new tax on personal income shall be levied by the state of New Hampshire.
2011-H-0375-R
title:
making changes to the pupil safety and violence prevention act.
Take cyberbullying out of the landmark NH anti-bullying act.
2011-H-0389-R
title:
(New Title) prohibiting the use of state funds for New Hampshire public television.
This one has passed the house. One of my reps told me that what they do is duplicating other educational programs. Right.
2011-H-0393-R
title:
affirming States' powers based on the Constitution for the United States and the Constitution of New Hampshire.
2011-H-0394-R
title:
ordering our federal senators to vote against the Law of the Sea Convention.
2011-H-0395-R
title:
declaring Merrill v. Sherburne to be void and of no force.
You may note that the NH Legislature is known as the General Court. Way back the legislature was the court of last appeal in lawsuits. Merrill v. Sherburne struck that use down. These guys want to bring it back. They have a number of bills attempting to get rid of the separation of powers and make the legislature the one supreme authority in the state. Ordering the AG to bring lawsuits, attempting to fire judges, and allowed the legislature to override court decisions are all part of this attempt to bring tyranny to NH.
2011-H-0436-R
title:
repealing the comprehensive shoreland protection act.
We finally got some protection for the many waterbodies in NH. Keeping them clean is part of the protection not only of our water supplies, our wildlife habitat, but also our tourist industry. But it upsets the rich folk who buy up the camps on the shorelines, tear down the little houses and build MacMansions and want a golf-course lawn kept up with fertilizers and herbicides right now to the shore.
And here is where I ran out of steam. Please add others in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment