Crossover day for the NH legislature is April 4. That’s the
day that the bills the Senate bills go to the House and vice versa. The House
is lagging behind, especially after one session day was cancelled due to a
storm. This week the House had the usual session day on Wednesday, but added an
additional session on Thursday. The House calendar warns that this may occur
next week as well. There is still much to deal with, and there are a number of
bills that require much public peacocking and posturing on the part of the
minority party.
During the House session on March 13, there were 14 roll
call votes. A roll call vote is expensive. The individual votes of each
representative are published on the General Court website, as well as on paper.
I’ve been quoted anywhere from $1000 to $3000 as a cost for a roll call vote. The
House Republicans called for 13 of last week’s 14 roll call votes. They heavily
used roll call votes during the last biennium, too. Why? Because the Tea
Party/Free State/Bircher wing of the NH GOP want those votes on record so that
they can use them against candidates
(from both parties) in the upcoming election. In other words, our tax
dollars are helping to fund the NH GOP campaigns of 2014. At $1000 per roll
call, that’s $14,000 we the people spent last week on roll call votes. This is legal, of course, but make no
mistake, this is what they’re doing with all of the roll call votes. It may be
legal but it’s also questionable – so please, ask those questions.
The March 20th voting session ended with 13 roll
call votes. There might well have been more, but the posturing around what
became the last vote of the day took up so much time that there just wasn’t any
time left for more.
The first big bill to be heard was HB 271, a bill sponsored
by former Speaker O’Brien, to block expansion of the Medicaid program in NH.
This is part of the Affordable Health Care Act, that bizarre attempt to make
sure that everyone in the richest country in the world has access to health
care. Representative O’Brien had a lot to say on the subject, including, “the
free market should find solutions,” and “We can do better for our poor and near
poor. Private solutions are the answer.” We’ve been in this mess with health
care now for decades, and the free market has failed. I can’t be the only
person in the state who remembers SB110 – the bill that was going to give us
increased competition amongst insurance companies and lower costs. Instead, the
same old insurance companies jacked up the rates in the North Country because
of all of the dangerous jobs. There was no increased competition, and there
never will be. The entire population of our state is less than that of a major
metropolitan city. There’s not enough money to be made here for the insurance
monopolies to bother with. As for “we can do better for our poor and near poor,”
why haven’t you?
Rep. Sherman, a physician from Rye, said that the uninsured
have a 40% higher chance of death. He told a story about a working poor and
uninsured patient who can’t afford the treatment she needs to treat her
Hepatitis C. Representative John Burt asked Rep. Sherman if he would benefit
financially from the Medicaid expansion, to audible groans from the House
floor. (Civility? In very short supply.)
The bill was voted down. Almost immediately, Rep. Al Baldasaro tweeted, “Hold
on to your wallets.” Given that he called for several roll call votes during
the session, his concern for the wallets of NH taxpayers appears to be capricious
at best.
There was a roll call vote on HB 454 (called for by
Baldasaro), a bill requiring the consent of homeowners prior to installation of
smart meters. The committee found the bill inexpedient to legislate, but the
wearers of tinfoil tricorne hats seem to regard smart meters as a part of
Agenda 21 or some other sinister plot.
The tricorne hat brigade didn’t like HB 242, either, a bill
to change the NH standards for child safety restraints. Free Stater Dan McGuire
asked for a roll call vote on this bill. Baldasaro immediately tweeted (after
the bill passed) that this was NANNY STATISM. Oddly, it’s never nanny statism
when it comes to regulating women’s reproductive decisions.
The bill to increase the tobacco tax (HB 659) by 20 cents
was hotly contested. Some of you will remember that the tobacco tax was slashed
last biennium, and as a result, the state lost over $10 million in revenue.
There was a lot of angst on behalf of the poor. Rep. Laurie Sanborn said, “This
tax takes money from low income families!” The same low-income families she
voted against expanding Medicaid coverage for, less than an hour earlier. (The
message to the poor of NH is clear: smoke! Die!) There was much concern for the
businesses of NH, because apparently cheap cigarettes are the very basis of our
state economy. There was no concern expressed by the extremists for the lost
revenues from last biennium. Those roll call votes don’t pay for themselves, Al
Baldasaro.
Rep. Ames from
Jaffrey inserted a little clarity into the dialogue, by pointing out that NH
would still have the lowest cigarette tax in New England AND no sales tax.
There was a roll call vote, and the increase was passed 193-167.
The House also passed HB 573, the medical marijuana bill.
Rep. Wright from Tuftonboro spoke very honestly about his wife’s breast cancer,
and what a boon this would be to her, and other sick people in our state. It’s
never easy to speak about deeply personal issues in public, and I thank Rep.
Wright for his bravery. With yet another roll call vote, the bill passed: 286-64.
This is the fifth time medical marijuana has passed the House. Perhaps, this
time it will be signed into law. Treating our sick and dying people nearly as
well as we treat our sick and dying pets would be a big step forward.
Last week, I sat in the gallery on session day with a woman
who had never been there before. The blaring horns, the Sergeant-at Arms
bellowing for “ROLL CALL” or “DIVSISION VOTE” were all new experiences for her.
That’s true for many, if not most NH residents. Everyone should go and spend a
day observing our elected officials doing the People’s business. Otto von Bismarck famously said: “Laws
are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” Otto’s
understandable squeamishness aside, we all need to pay more attention to the
sausage makers of our state.
2 comments:
Thank you for this outstanding update on the (unpleasant)state of NH. 100% on your commentary regarding O'Brien's responses to his pathetic rhetoric (freely utilized by all Tbagpublicans)on healthcare which translates to "live free but die quickly". We all really have to start looking at the root hatreds harboured in this nation. Gun violence, our warmongering and xenophonia, all translate to NOT wishing healthcare for our neighbors, friends and loved ones. This IS the bottom line. Americans hate each other and everyone in between and it's a hard pill to swallow, but some sort of dialogue has to be started on this. Common and useless words such as "socialism" get brandied about to evade this basic truth. I don't see the dialogue starting. And that's a sad "free" pill to have to swallow.
Invaluable post on sausage making. Although I detest the politics involved in the requests for roll call votes, and realize there is a cost for them, - these votes will be very informative for those who are not "liberty" Republicans. They reflect and document the role of those gold sheets the NH Liberty Alliance uses, and the mindless way in which most Republicans follow them on many of the bills.
As Granite State Progress proved with the 2012 election, this can be enlightening information to provide to voters.
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