In this Friday the 13th installment of They Said It, there was a lot of talk about Gov. John Lynch’s veto of so-called right-to-work legislation, pleasure over the first tax cut of the session signed into law, and a newspaper speaking out for consumers.
How do you annul a criminal record in the digital age? A House proposal to update the state’s criminal record annulment law attempts to provide a 21st century answer to a pre-digital age New Hampshire statute.
House Bill 82 will have its first Senate hearing later today.
The persistent push to legalize medical marijuana distribution in New Hampshire has flown mostly under the radar this session, as budget matters and issues like fighting federal health care reform have made most of the headlines. But the initiative has momentum, and today brings a vote that could hold the key to its fate.
When it meets in full session Wednesday, the Senate will decide whether to join the House in prohibiting state funding of New Hampshire Public Television.
House Bill 113, which passed the House 263-102 in February, has received closer scrutiny in the Senate. Sponsored by Steve Vaillancourt (R-Manchester), the measure would stop all state funding for NHPTV (Channel 11), including contracts with state agencies for educational and broadcasting services.
There was plenty to say this week about RGGI, federal health care reform, private prisons, and payday loans …
The House reached a veto-proof majority when it voted 261-104 to approve its own version of a Senate proposal to fight federal health care reform. But will the Senate concur?
Expect a veto fight over the “Right to Work.” House Bill 474 would prevent public sector unions from collecting fees from non-union employees who are nonetheless covered under the union’s collective bargaining agreements.
Lynch has five days to sign the bill into law or veto it. Or let it become law without his signature — but that’s not likely.
Should New Hampshire resurrect its in-state meat and poultry inspection service it abandoned more than three decades ago?
The issue has emerged in the past few years as a number of smaller meat and poultry farms have sprouted up throughout the state. Later today, the Senate will likely pass House Bill 339, which would establish a meat inspection services administrator.
New Hampshire doesn’t have a voter fraud problem, and Republican lawmakers want to keep it that way by requiring photo ID from voters.
Expect a spirited debate when the House votes on Senate Bill 129 in its full session Wednesday…
Ready for an old-fashioned Constitutional showdown?
We’re tracking an effort by New Hampshire lawmakers to get the Attorney General to join other states in challenging the constitutionality of last year’s federal health care reform law.
The proposals may or may not amount to anything more than political posturing and a lengthy court battle. But as they play out, they illustrate tension between the states and the federal government, plus a debate within New Hampshire about separation of powers.
