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Today’s MCG committee hearing is going to be a doozy. Thread for it starts here. #NHPolitics
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ok the Zoom call is up
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actually starting now; we’ll be starting by finishing up the #TinyHouses bill from last week first
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Someone was asking for a reference to Appendix Q of the IRC (International Residential Code); I’m pretty sure this is it: codes.iccsafe.org/content/IRC2018/appendix-q-tiny-houses?site_type=public
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ok so it looks like we’re not actually voting on 588 (the #TinyHouses bill) yet; we just closed the hearing on it, which was still technically open. Now we’re moving onto HB484, Rep. Pauer’s bill on town warrant articles. #NHPolitics
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uh oh, some testifiers are having trouble speaking by Zoom today...
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Tech issues seem to be fixed; James (Jim) Lefebvre of Conway is testifying in opposition to HB484 (I wish more testifiers would say whether they support or oppose the bill as the first thing they say)
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Brian Rater of Brookline (Rep. Pauer’s town) is testifying against HB484; I don’t think I remembered that Hollis-Brookline was a combined school district…
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Next testimony is from someone from the NHMA; I’ll give you 3 guesses who it is and the first two don’t count. …yup, it’s Cordell Johnston again, and he is suggesting to retain the bill for further study.
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Tom Gehan of Hollis’s budget committee is testifying against HB484 now.
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Eric Pauer (Rep. Diane Pauer’s husband) is testifying in favor of HB484 now; they seem to be a team
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is “fiduciarily” even a word? Spellcheck doesn’t seem to recognize it
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(i.e., “fiduciary” turned into an adverb)
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next up is Chris Hyde of Hollis’s budget committee testifying against HB484
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this seems like it’s really just a Hollis-Brookline local issue… sequel to Danville’s dogcatcher bill from last week…
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Next up is HB411, establishing a study commission on equalization rates
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Rep. Merner (sp?) isn’t here to introduce HB411 so Rep. Maggiore is doing it instead
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Charelle Lucas is deferring her testimony to George Sansoucy from Lancaster, who is testifying in favor of HB411. Apparently Rep. Merner is over in Ways & Means today.
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er actually they’re asking us to retain this bill (HB411) until after COVID instead, since we’re trying to avoid new study committees at the moment
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Rep. Stavis is offering a motion to reconsider HB512 now because we never got a chance to discuss her amendment to it before the Republicans ITL-ed it.
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Motion to reconsider HB512 passes 11-9; we got 2 Republicans to join us
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Rep. Stavis’s amendment to HB512 passes 18-1 (Rep. Melvin was the 1); now to vote on the bill as amended…
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…and even WITH the amendment, HB512 STILL fails along party lines, 10-9. Remember, Republicans want to keep it easy to evict you, Democrats want to protect you from evictions. Keep that in mind when midterms come around next year. #NHPolitics
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Next up is Peter Somssich introducing HB392, which would require land use board members to be residents of the towns of the boards in question
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oh wait I think I have that wrong; that’s already the current requirement, but instead this bill would clarify that that requirement only applies to voting members of the local land use boards
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Can I just refer to Cordell Johnston as “C.J.” now and have people know who I’m talking about? Anyways he’s testifying and apparently the NHMA is neutral on HB392; just raising some possibilities for amendments.
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Mark Brighton of Portsmouth is now testifying in favor of HB392
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Hm, @JdmMeuse was on the sponsor list but didn’t testify on it… David could you give us your take on HB392?
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Anyways Rep. Diane Pauer has another bill before us today; she’s introducing HB374 to us now, which is about how towns may adopt the SB2 form of government.
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Former Rep. Jim Bélanger of Hollis (who was previously on this committee) is now testifying… that sounded like it was against HB392? I didn’t quite hear the specific words “support” or “oppose” though…
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Now Laura Buono of Hillsborough (the town) is testifying against HB392.
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C.J. opposes HB392
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Gail Cromwell of Temple, NH opposes HB392
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Eric Pauer is back again to testify in favor of another of his wife’s bills (HB392 this time).
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The Pauers sound like basically they’re not getting along with the rest of their town (or their town government at least) and are trying to get around them via the legislature
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Next bill is HB341, @ivyvann’s zoning bill. It’d allow quadriplexes in residential districts currently zoned for single-family-housing. She is good on housing, so I support this bill! #NHPolitics
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This bill (HB341) supersedes the bill on ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) she previously withdrew, btw.
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oh wait I guess the term is “fourplex” instead of “quadriplex” here (my brother is living in one of them out in Portland, Oregon, btw)
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#EndSingleFamilyZoning
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Other sponsors of this bill (HB341) include @caseymconley and @RepMcWilliams who are also good reps; I hope they’ll testify on behalf of it today!
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Next up is Paul J. Parisi of the NH State Fire Marshal’s office; he was initially going to testify against this bill but since @ivyvann pre-empted his concerns, he’s changed it to a request for amendment instead.
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Christie West of Mont Vernon is now testifying in support of HB341.
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Melissa French… I think I recognize this name… anyways she is from Peterborough and is testifying in favor of HB341.
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The NHMA has a different lobbyist on this bill; this time it’s @NatchGreyes instead! Anyways they oppose HB341, which I guess is for the usual reasons of local control and the principles they usually cite.
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Note that @salimfurth is also livetweeting the HB341 portion of this hearing; he’s on the witness list, but we just haven’t gotten to him yet
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Right I found Melissa French’s handle from earlier; I’m pretty sure it’s @mdflynwriter (has the same pfp at least)
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Next up is Aubrey Freedman of Bridgewater testifying in favor of HB341; he supports improving our housing situation! Making the argument now to try to convert NIMBYs…
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He’s making the property rights argument for this bill; i.e. let people develop their property as they want. As I’m not a libertarian these arguments aren’t designed for me, but I appreciate their utility in possibly converting others to the cause of improving housing
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.@W_Stewart of @StayWorkPlay is testifying in favor of HB341. Thank you for your testimony, Will!
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ok now @salimfurth gets his turn; he’s echoing his testimony from HB132, which was on minimum lot sizes: @cooljeanius/1359189129762926597
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…and finally Neil Heller from Portland Oregon is testifying HB341. As I mentioned previously Portland has a bunch of fourplexes (my brother is living in one), so they have experience with these out there.
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ok finally we get our lunch break; we’ll be back with HB266 in half an hour
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also apparently Neil Heller’s handle from earlier is @nbrhoodwrkshop; h/t to @salimfurth for the pointer
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back from lunch; now for the controversial portion of today’s hearing: HB266, the anti-sanctuary-city bill. Rep. John Potucek is introducing it.
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“this is not a bill about immigration” ok sure then why do you have anti-immigrant organizations signed up to testify on your behalf?
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he can’t answer that
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note that Rep. Potucek gave us this gem earlier this term: @EllenBarryNYT/1347327819978829826?s=20
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oh my gosh what a jerk: @doctorow/1188122937762598913?s=20
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I hate this guy already
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he has no answer as to how to pay for this bill
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Good question from Rep. Stavis on how this bill could be used to take away things Republicans usually like; of course Rep. Potucek can’t answer it (seems to be a theme)
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Next up is Shari Rendall from the @splcenter-designated hate group, FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform). She is already spewing hate.
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wow she just kinda dodged my question there
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Note that @LeahCohen603 is livetweeting this HB266 portion of this hearing, too.
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Apparently @LesleyJLopez asked Ms. Rendall a similar question when she was in front of the Maryland legislature: @elosodelsol/1367304313228447747?s=20
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Some handles for people who might want to contact Ms. Rendall: she appears to be @slrendall of @FAIRImmigration
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Please all go show @LathaMangipudi some support today; she’s putting a lot of work into her questions at this hearing.
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Vanessa Blais (@bansheebess) is supposed to be next but Rep. Maggiore couldn’t seem to find her; we’re moving on to Grace Kindeke of @AFSCNH next instead.
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Shoutout to the work @BLMNashua has been doing!
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Chairman Dolan is showing bias in how he’s treating opponents to this bill compared to how he treated supporters of it. It was “Wow, you handled 30 questions!” for the latter vs. “Please cut your testimony short” for the former.
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.@NatchGreyes from the NHMA is still here, this time to testify against HB266. This time their principles of local control work in our favor!
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Next was supposed to be Bruno Soares of @CC_NH but he seemed to be having trouble connecting, so we’re on to @asmaelhuni of @RightsNH next. Republicans on this committee don’t seem to like her!
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Yeah go Asma!
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Next up is Eva Castillo of the NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees; she’s giving great testimony against HB266! #NHPolitics
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Are the Republicans really laughing at her over this? She’s speaking from the heart here; show her some respect.
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Next up is @GillesACLU of @ACLU_NH testifying against HB266. He’s a great guy!
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Chairman Dolan is threatening to cut off testimony before everyone who wishes to testify has had a chance to give their testimony.
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ugh we have cops on this committee; guess we can guess how this questioner is going to vote…
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people shouldn’t be allowed to be both police officers and state representatives at the same time IMO; that seems like a separation of powers issue to me. #NHPolitics
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Next is @electamandanh of Cheshire-16 testifying against HB266. Thank you Rep. Toll for your testimony!
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Next is Chris Wellington of… uh, I forget the organization and it doesn’t seem to say on the list of people scheduled to testify, but, anyways, she’s testifying against HB266.
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OK it looks like Bruno Soares of @CC_NH (who was supposed to testify earlier) managed to connect after all; he is now testifying against HB266.
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He brings up the point that people who came thru Ellis Island would be considered entering illegally if they tried to do things the same way today. That’s true, but he should also clarify that it was indeed legal at the time, bc legal immigration wasn’t as difficult at the time.
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IOW the reason it’s illegal now is because laws have changed.
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(I’m not going to ask any questions along these lines, though, because we’re running short on time)
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I did ask him a question where I tried to get him to make the faith-based case for treating immigrants fairly, though, but unfortunately he didn’t go too much into detail on it… oh well, I guess that’s not really allowed…
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Thankfully my fellow committee Democrats have my back and managed to get a follow-up in!
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Next up is Maureen Maloney of some racist anti-immigrant group; she made me too angry to remember their name.
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Rep. Dolan is cutting off testimony and preventing @TimothyHorrigan and @mariapz1974 from testifying. #NHPolitics
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ok we finally convinced him to let testimonies continue
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.@mariapz1974 finally gets her turn to testify against HB266!
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Rep. Bob Lynn is testifying in support of this bill. This actually supports our case even though we oppose this bill IMO; shows we were standing up for the right of people we disagree with to be heard as well.
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Rep. Max Abramson is now testifying in favor of HB266. Starting to regret pushing to allow further testimony if we’re not allowed to ask them questions…
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I can’t believe Rep. Abramson was ever a libertarian; being pro-immigration is a pretty core libertarian tenet. Anyways @TimothyHorrigan is now testifying against HB266.
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Marshall Jespersen of Conway is now testifying against HB266.
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he’s making the pro-business argument for why immigration is good.
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Next up is Trysten McClain of Plymouth testifying against HB266.
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His handle is @TrystenMcClain for reference. Thank you for your testimony against HB266, and I’m sorry for how our chair has been acting!
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For reference, here is a @WGBH interview with Ms. Maloney from the anti-immigrant group who testified earlier: wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/02/21/mass-mother-of-son-killed-by-undocumented-immigrant-backs-border-wall
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someone was just being asked if they worked for Raytheon
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(sorry, we’re having tech troubles again… will be onto executive session ASAP!)
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ok we’re back and moving onto Executive Session; first we’re voting on HB484, the one from earlier today on warrant articles.
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HB484 passes along party lines, 10-9. Phbhtbhtpbhtpbh
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I thought they had asked us to retain HB411, but I didn’t want to be the one to ruin a unanimous vote, so I just went along with it. HB411 is passed OTP by a vote of 19-0.
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Next up is HB374, the one on adopting SB2.
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HB374 passes along party lines, 10-9. This is so discouraging…
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HB266 passes along party lines, 10-9. aseehjtrsaudjktherusdh gfilkasgdfweqSTWEHRJsthbskjdgfczx ASDLHFAJKWSrehtgualsdkgfhjkabdsmfawETr #%)#$%*@$#(^*)@#^! I @#$_!+)$%*^&!
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ok we’re voting on @ivyvann’s amendment to HB341 now to tighten up some of the language
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Amendment to HB341 passes 17 to… uh, while just judging by math I’d guess that’d be “2” but I didn’t quite hear it…
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…and even with the amendment, HB341 fails along party lines, 10-9. Oh well, so much for fourplexes in New Hampshire…
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Reminder, Democrats want to make it easier to find housing in New Hampshire, while Republicans want to keep it hard. We should really try to focus on this messaging next year. #NHPolitics
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HB573 is ITL-ed by… I didn’t quite catch the vote, but it was enough to put it on the consent calendar…
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HB574, which was a similar bill, is also ITL-ed (this was 19-0, so I’m assuming the previous one had a similar vote), so it also goes on the consent calendar.
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Now we’re onto HB588, the bipartisan bill on tiny houses. Republicans are already moving to ITL it. Sigh…
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HB588 fails along party lines, 10-9. @LathaMangipudi is moving to reconsider but I don’t have much hopes for it…
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yup, the motion to reconsider fails along party lines with the same vote of 10-9… sigh… so much for #TinyHouses in NH…
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HB392 is ITL-ed 15-4, with some Democrats (including me) joining the Republicans among the 15. I really could have gone either way but I didn’t want to risk possibly having to write the minority report on this one…
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ok we’re done now… I need to lie down…
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I am just so mad at everyone who thought we could go back to brunch after electing Biden. Trump himself may be gone, but Trumpism is still here: it's just filtered its way down to every state and local elected GOP official.