N.H. Roll Call: House addresses red flag, minimum wage and plastic bags
The N.H. Legislature returned to work and members took their first votes on bills since last July. Bills which had previously been sent to further study and recommendation were considered this week, and hundreds of bills will be having public hearings during the next several weeks. In addition, all the following bills passed this week by the House will be sent to the Senate for further public hearing and vote.
Creating an "Extreme Risk Protection Order"
House Bill 687, "relative to extreme risk protection orders," sponsored by Rep. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, and Sens. David Watters, D-Dover and Tom Sherman, D-Rye, establishes a procedure for issuing extreme risk protection orders to protect persons who pose an immediate risk of harm to themselves or others. The bill is commonly called "Red Flag."
It had been sent to the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, and received a public hearing last March. It was retained by the committee for further review, and underwent extensive discussion from June through November, then was referred to the House without formal recommendation by the committee.
Committee members in favor of passage, with an amendment, reported,"This bill was filed to create a new kind of court order called an "Extreme Risk Protection Order" (ERPO). ERPOs, currently law in 17 other states and Washington, DC, are designed to temporarily limit a person's access to firearms if they pose a serious risk of using them to harm themselves or others. Under the bill, law enforcement officers and family or household members who recognize warning signs of danger could enlist the help of a court by filing a petition asking the court to issue an ERPO. ERPOs are meant to provide a tool for law enforcement and family members to address dangerous situations where gaps in current law prevent them from doing so."
Committee members opposed to passage reported, "The opponents of this bill believe that at its heart, it is a gun confiscation bill. They are concerned it lacks due process and may be falsely used to accuse a person of being a danger to themselves or others. The opponents and proponents of this legislation were unable to reach a satisfactory compromise that would protect second amendment rights and also protect people from harming themselves or others. Proponents consider this legislation as a suicide prevention bill, opponents consider this a gun confiscation bill."
The House voted 213 to 162 in favor of the amendment proposed by committee members who supported passing the bill, then voted 201 to 176 approving the legislation with the amendment. "Yes" supported passage, "no" opposed:
Portsmouth Herald area legislators:
Yes: Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham; Skip Berrien, D-Exeter; Lisa Bunker, D-Exeter; Patricia Bushway, D-Hampton; Michael Cahill, D-Newmarket; Jacqueline Cali-Pitts, D-Portsmouth; Renny Cushing, D-Hampton; Charlotte DiLorenzo, D-Newmarket; Michael Edgar, D-Hampton; Julie Gilman, D-Exeter; Gaby Grossman, D-Exeter; Tamara Le, D-North Hampton; Patricia Lovejoy, D-Stratham; Jim Maggiore, D-North Hampton; Dennis Malloy, D-Greenland; Liz McConnell, D-Brentwood; David Meuse, D-Portsmouth; Kate Murray, D-New Castle; Laura Pantelakos, D-Portsmouth; Ellen Read, D-Newmarket; Peter Somssich, D-Portsmouth; Gerald Ward, D-Portsmouth
No: Patrick Abrami, R-Stratham; Max Abramson, Libertarian-Seabrook; Dan Davis, R-Kensington; William Fowler, R-Seabrook; Jaci Grote, D-Rye; Deborah Hobson, R-East Kingston; Jason Janvrin, R-Seabrook; Aboul Khan, R-Seabrook; Rebecca McBeath, D-Portsmouth; Mark Vallone, D-Epping; Michael Vose, R-Epping
Not voting: Tom Loughman, D-Hampton, excused
Foster's Daily Democrat area legislators:
Yes: Peter Bixby, D-Dover; Gerri Cannon, D-Somersworth; Wendy Chase, D-Rollinsford; Casey Conley, D-Dover; Kristina Fargo, D-Dover; Timothy Fontneau, D-Rochester; Sherry Frost, D-Dover; Amanda Gourgue, D-Lee; Chuck Grassie, D-Rochester; Peg Higgins, D-Rochester; Timothy Horrigan, D-Durham; Cam Kenney, D-Durham; Cassandra Levesque, D-Barrington; Linn Opderbecke, D-Dover; Cecelia Rich, D-Somersworth; Jeffrey Salloway, D-Lee; Catt Sandler, D-Somersworth; Peter Schmidt, D-Dover; Judith Spang, D-Durham; Matthew Towne, D-Barrington; Susan Treleaven, D-Dover; Kenneth Vincent, D-Somersworth; Janet Wall, D-Madbury
No: Lino Avellani, R-Sanbornville; Ed Comeau, R-Brookfield; Barbara Comtois, R-Center Barnstead; Donna Ellis, D-Rochester; George Feeney, R-Alton; Peter Hayward, R-Milton; James Horgan, R-Farmington; Raymond Howard, R-Alton; Sandra Keans, D-Rochester; Mac Kittredge, R-Rochester; William Marsh, R-Wolfeboro; Bill Nelson, R-Brookfield; Mona Perreault, R-Rochester; Joseph Pitre, R-Farmington; Abigail Rooney, R-Milton; Marjorie Smith, D-Durham; Kurt Wuelper, R-Strafford
Not voting: Steven Beaudoin, R-Rochester; Michael Harrington, R-Strafford; Thomas Southworth, D-Dover; Peter Varney, R-Alton, excused
HB 731, "relative to the minimum hourly rate," is sponsored by Reps. Casey Conley, D-Dover; Ellen Read, D-Newmarket; Lisa Bunker, D-Exeter; and Sherry Frost, D-Dover. It sets a base wage for employees.
The amended version of the bill provides a minimum hourly wage of $8.50 until December 31, 2020, then $10.60 effective January 1, 2021, $11.70 effective January 1, 2022, $12.80 effective January 1, 2023, $13.90 effective January 1, 2024, and $15.00 effective January 1, 2025. Tipped employees of a restaurant, hotel, motel, inn or cabin, or ballroom who customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips directly from the customers will receive a base rate from their employee of not less than 50 percent of the applicable hourly wage.
Beginning on January 1, 2026 and each year after, the minimum wage will be adjusted according to the Northeast consumer price index.
The House Labor Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee voted 11 to 6 supporting passage, with an amendment. The majority reported, "This bill has N.H.moving forward with our employers and employees in mind to make N.H. a more desirable place to live, work, and start new business."
The minority of the committee, urging defeat of the bill, reported, "This bill confuses a livable wage with minimum wage. It creates reduced hours and automation, moving business and manufacturing out of the country. It also makes obtaining work for first time workers more difficult. A similar bill was vetoed by the Governor that had even lower increases."
The House approved passage 212 to 155. "Yes" supported the legislation, "no" opposed:
Herald area legislators:
Yes: Altschiller, Berrien, Bunker, Bushway, Cahill, Cali-Pitts, Cushing, DiLorenzo, Edgar, Gilman, Grossman, Grote, Le, Loughman, Lovejoy, Maggiore, Malloy, McBeath, McConnell, Meuse, Murray, Pantelakos, Read, Somssich, Vallone, Ward
No: Abrami, Abramson, Davis, Fowler, Hobson, Janvrin, Khan, Vose
Foster's area legislators
Yes: Bixby, Cannon, Chase, Conley, Ellis, Fargo, Fontneau, Frost, Gourgue, Grassie, Higgins, Horrigan, Keans, Kenney, Levesque, Opderbecke, Rich, Salloway, Sandler, Schmidt, Smith, Spang, Towne, Treleaven, Vincent, Wall
No: Avellani, Comeau, Comtois, Feeney, Hayward, Horgan, Howard, Kittredge, Marsh, Nelson, Perreault, Pitre, Varney, Wuelper
Not voting: Beaudoin, Harrington, Rooney, Southworth, excused
Single use bag fee
HB 559, "enabling communities to ban single-use sources of plastic pollution," is sponsored by Reps. Judith Spang, D-Durham and Julie Gilman, D-Exeter, with Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth.
The House Municipal and County Government Committee voted 11 to 8 recommending passage, with an amendment. The committee reported, "It is intended to reduce the number and volume of point of sale, single use bags in the state's waste stream and in the environment by establishing a fee for certain bags, that is retained by the retailer. The nominal fee encourages consumers to utilize re-usable bags instead of paper or plastic by requiring bags of a certain size, and distributed at the point of sale, to be reusable, recyclable, and made of recycled materials."
Urging defeat of the bill, the minority reported, "Plastic bags are 100% recyclable, highly reused, and the vast majority are made and recycled in the U.S., which supports tens of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Charging fees for plastic bags will only make doing business in N.H. more expensive and burdensome for our citizens, businesses, and visitors, while doing nothing to address overall litter and waste. The minority believes educational efforts concerning the use, reuse, and recycling of plastic bags should first be attempted prior to imposing an indirect tax on our residents and visitors."
The House approved the bill 205 to 158. "Yes" favored passage, "no" opposed:
Herald area legislators
Yes: Altschiller, Berrien, Bunker, Bushway, Cahill, Cali-Pitts, Cushing, DiLorenzo, Edgar, Gilman, Grossman, Grote, Le, Loughman, Lovejoy, Maggiore, Malloy, McBeath, McConnell, Meuse, Murray, Pantelakos, Read, Ward
No: Abrami, Abramson, Davis, Fowler, Hobson, Janvrin, Khan, Somssich, Vallone, Vose
Yes: Bixby, Cannon, Chase, Conley, Fargo, Frost, Gourgue, Grassie, Higgins, Horrigan, Keans, Kenney, Levesque, Opderbecke, Rich, Salloway, Sandler, Schmidt, Smith, Spang, Towne, Treleaven, Vincent, Wall
No: Avellani, Comeau, Comtois, Ellis, Feeney, Fontneau, Hayward, Horgan, Howard, Kittredge, Nelson, Perreault, Pitre, Varney, Wuelper
Not voting: Beaudoin, Harrington, Marsh, Rooney, Southworth, excused
Local ordinances regarding plastic bags
HB 102, "relative to municipal ordinances regulating single-use bags," is sponsored by Rep. Judith Spang. It permits towns and cities to adopt bylaws to regulate the distribution of single-use plastic and paper bags.
The House Municipal and County Government Committee voted 12 to 7 recommending passage. The Committee reported, "This bill as amended enables municipalities to regulate the distribution of single use plastic bags and paper bags to consumers through local ordinances. This legislation is one step in answer to the desire of N.H. municipalities to reduce the amount of single use plastics in their waste streams, in land fills and in the environment."
Opposing passage, the minority reported, "It was felt that this bill only served as a 'back up' to HB 559 in case it doesn't pass. Passing this bill could result in varying standards community by community that would be both difficult and expensive for retail establishments to implement."
The House approved the legislation 215 to 151. "Yes" supported it, "no" opposed:
Yes: Altsciller, Berrien, Bunker, Bushway, Cahill, Cali-Pitts, Cushing, DiLorenzo, Edgar, Gilman, Grossman, Grote, Le, Loughman, Lovejoy, Maggiore, Malloy, McBeath, McConnell, Meuse, Murray, Pantelakos, Read, Somssich, Ward
No: Abrami, Abramson, Davis, Fowler, Hobson, Janvrin, Khan, Vallone, Vose
Foster's area legislators:
No: Avellani, Comeau, Comtois, Feeney, Hayward, Horgan, Howard, Kittredge, Nelson, Perreault, Pitre, Varney, Wuelper
Redistricting process
Senate Bill 8, "establishing an independent redistricting commission," is sponsored by Sens. Tom Sherman, D-Rye and Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth. It had passed the Senate in March of last year but had been retained in the House until this week. The Senate passed it 14 to 10, with Sens. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth; Tom Sherman, D-Rye; Jon Morgan, D-Brentwood; and David Watters, D-Dover in favor, while Sens. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro; James Gray, R-Rochester, and John Reagan, R-Deerfield were opposed.
The House Election Committee voted 18 to 2 favoring passage. The committee reported, "This bill, with the amendment, establishes an independent redistricting commission that is charged with conducting an open and transparent process enabling full public consideration of and comment upon the redistricting of county, state and federal electoral districts. It is intended to put the interest of voters, constituents, and communities of common interest ahead of purely political considerations. Twenty-one other states have adopted an independent process for redistricting."
Urging that the bill be killed, the minority reported, "The commission is an attempt to shift the responsibility for redistricting from the elected members of this body to unelected and unaccountable individuals. The effort to do so is done under a claim to avoid gerrymandering, a rare occurrence in this state's process, a process that is by its nature political. The minority does not believe that any other outcome can be reasonably anticipated and finding the bill Inexpedient to Legislate will allow time for more fruitful work for our constituents."
The House voted 224 to 141 to pass the bill. "Yes" supported it, "no" opposed:
Yes: Abramson, Altschiller, Bunker, Bushway, Cahill, Cali-Pitts, Cushing, DiLorenzo, Edgar, Gilman, Grossman, Grote, Le, Lovejoy, Maggiore, Malloy, McBeath, McConnell, Meuse, Murray, Pantelakos, Read, Somssich, Vallone, Ward
No: Abrami, Davis, Hobson, Janvrin, Khan, Vose
Not voting: Loughman, excused; Berrien, Fowler, not excused
Yes: Bixby, Cannon, Chase, Conley, Ellis, Fargo, Fontneau, Gourgue, Grassie, Higgins, Horrigan, Keans, Kenney, Levesque, Opderbecke, Rich, Salloway, Sandler, Schmidt, Smith, Spang, Towne, Treleaven, Vincent, Wall
No: Avellani, Comeau, Comtois, Feeney, Hayward, Horgan, Howard, Kittredge, Marsh, Nelson, Perreault, Pitre, Rooney, Wuelper
Not voting: Beaudoin, Harrington, Southworth, Varney, excused; Frost, not excused
The amended bill will return to the Senate for further review.
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