Tangential matters dot package to get rankand-file House members behind it

Observers of the New Hampshire legislative session this year have noticed some unique elements of it, and some curious ones. Unique arrangements for in-person meetings for “session days” in the House have meant fewer of them, and arranging them in a larger venue, in Bedford this time. The sessions so far have been somewhat contentious, with fights between the parties and a significant and irresponsible segment of the GOP members refusing to follow the rules to make such sessions safe during the pandemic, making the work of leadership harder.

What is somewhat curious, with a strong Republican majority in both houses of the Legislature, is how difficult it apparently has been for House leadership to get the GOP rank and file behind the budget process.

House Finance Committee Chair Kenneth Weyler, a talented veteran of many sessions and budgets, has had to add a number of tangential matters to the budget, reportedly to attract enough votes for it to pass in the House, where all budgets have to originate.

Provisions on banning diversity training, pro-life provisions, provisions restricting the emergency powers of the governor during a state of emergency, and other concessions to more conservative members of the House, have been added.

Weyler was heard to observe, during one of the drafting session, “It is hard to watch sausage being made,” a reference to the give-and-take of legislative maneuvering.

What to expect when the budget gets to the 24-member Senate is a matter of speculation, with many hoping the Senate will remove some of the unrelated provisions before it goes to the reconciliation process of a committee of conference. Whether this will work or not and what Governor Sununu will do with a budget containing provisions he opposes, will be interesting to see.

At this point in the legislative calendar, each house is supposed to have taken action on the bills that originated in it, with those approved crossing over to the other body for consideration. This has been a major challenge in light of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Virtual hearings have allowed more members of the public to observe and participate in the legislative process, which has been a mixed blessing, since it also prolonged many committee hearing days.

One of the committees of the House that experienced long days was the Election Law Committee, chaired by Rep. Barbara Griffin, a Goffstown Republican.

In New Hampshire, as in many states, there has been a concerted effort to change election laws in many ways, an effort claimed to be to assure safe and secure elections.

After the 2020 elections, with record turnout and virtually no evidence of fraud or irregularities, there does not appear to be any crying need for changes in New Hampshire law, although a counter effort by other legislators, to make some of the emergency pandemic-related changes permanent, also have been introduced.

Secretary of State William Gardner’s office testified on almost all of the bills, making a strong effort to retain the system that has worked so well in New Hampshire traditionally, in-person voting except in the case of legitimate, constitutionally allowed, absentee voting.

Certain of the emergency procedures, like early processing of absentee ballots, clearly worked and could be made permanent, but efforts to make “no excuse” absentee voting and other changes permanent need study, and the assurance that they do not run afoul of the state Constitution, in which a lot of the rules have been enacted by amendment.

In short, the efforts of the GOP to fix what appears not to be broken and the efforts of many to go to an early voting or majority mail-in voting should be viewed with skepticism and resisted, without clear evidence that they will be making improvements over traditional, in-person, Election Day voting, which has resulted in New Hampshire having among the highest turnouts in the country, year after year.

As vaccinations increase and the system is opened up to everyone over the age of sixteen, everyone should take time to recognize the generally successful and well-organized job the state of New Hampshire has done getting people vaccinated.

While there have been occasional issues, and the system has not been perfect, having the hope of returning to normal and the opportunity, after vaccination and the resulting two-week period to make it totally effective, to see people, go out to eat and otherwise return to whatever normal is going to be is a relief.

As spring comes, hope returns, as long as we are smart enough not to rush it, and continue to observe the required protections.

Stay safe!

Brad Cook is a Manchester attorney. The views expressed in this column are his own. He can be reached at bradfordcook01@gmail.com.