My votes in the NH House session
of March 9, 2023

As you can see from all the red in the “Result of vote” column, it was a bad day for the Democrats. We had about twice as many absences as the Republicans, some Democrats voted with the Republicans, and several Democrats left before the last few votes.

It was a particularly bad day for the Science, Technology and Energy Democrats. Of the six bills we had on the calendar, we lost the vote on five of them (despite my parliamentary inquiry on HB 251), with the sixth bill being tabled.

HB 31-FN, HB 32-FN, HB 59-FN, HB 78

These bills would have increased public safety by

• Continuing to prohibit possession or sale of blackjacks, slungshots (like a bola, but with a single ball), and brass knuckles.
• Disallowing possession or discharging a firearm in a safe school zone.
• Requiring a background check before any commercial firearm sale.
• Allowing the state to enforce federal firearms rules.

But the second amendment absolutists had the votes.

HB 367-FN-LOCAL, HB 440-FN, HB 464-FN

These bills all strengthened and expanded the Education Freedom Accounts. I campaigned against EFAs. Do not believe the Republican talking point that Democrats are against school choice. We have always had school choice: parents could always send their children to private or religious schools, or opt to home-school. The problem with EFAs are that they funnel public money away from public schools and to private schools, religious schools (violating the NH Constitution), and home schools—and that the amount being taken from public schools is well beyond what was imagined initially. Republicans like to point to how many people use EFAs as evidence of the success of the program. No, not really: EFAs have not enabled many students to leave public schools because most people using EFAs were already sending their children to private or religious schools or were home-schooling.

HB 112, HB 117, HB 401, HB 469-FN, HB 567

These bills all related to tenants’ rights by requiring sufficient notification of a sale, renovation, or rent increase; preventing eviction because the lease expired; and prohibiting discrimination against renters with Section 8 vouchers. The Republicans came down against the renters on each vote, claiming that it would help alleviate our housing crisis. But what good is it to have rental housing that renters can’t afford?

HB 154

This bill prevents local health authorities from exercising their judgment of health and safety issues quickly, instead requiring a majority of the local legislative body to rule on their advice. As we saw from the COVID pandemic, sometimes swift action needs to occur, rather than waiting for a body to convene.

HB 92

We received a ton of “astroturf” emails (100% identical except the name and address of the sender) about this bill in the ST&E committee. It called for New Hampshire to adopt the California vehicle emissions standards so that auto manufacturers would allocate electric vehicles to NH dealers. (It’s hard to even find an EV to test drive in NH, though the dealers say that if you want one, they’ll order one for you.) We knew that this bill was unpopular, and so we proposed an amendment to create a study committee. The amendment failed, and so the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rebecca McWilliams, asked us to vote it down.

HB 281

This bill repeals the requirement for utilities to file a “least cost integrated resource plan,” which is one of the few ways in which the Public Utilities Commission must consider environmental impacts.

HB 372

This bill would have established a commission to study the effect of carbon pricing on NH. Republicans act as though carbon pricing isn’t coming. It’s already in effect in many places in the world, and it’s going to have an effect here.