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Session day 2 thread starts from this tweet; also, here's a link to yesterday's thread: @cooljeanius/1478698884717240323
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since I didn't get it in my opening tweet this time, let's get my reminder in that I usually leave the #NHPolitics hashtag out of tweets in threads like these to save on typing time, & bc they generally don't stand on their own, altho it's certainly an applicable hashtag to add.
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we’re being called to take our seats now
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Pastor Bob is leading the prayer again... can't they give @AlexisSimpsonNH another turn instead?
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first bill to hear today: HB238, the bill to end the “LGBTQ+ panic” defense.
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Abramson is speaking against the bill; talking about how he was facing life in prison once
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…and Daryl Abbas supports OTP on this? I’m so confused by the coalitions that have formed on this bill…
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Casey Conley refutes Abramson’s due-process/self-defense claims; you still get due process and can claim self-defense with this bill, it just can’t be due to the victim being LGBTQ+.
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HB238 passes, so that’s good.
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Next is HB579, requiring notice to the public before immigration checkpoints are conducted. I actually went and protested an inadequately-noticed immigration checkpoint during the Trump years with a friend; if it had been noticed, I wouldn’t have had to go warn people myself.
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Thank you for your PI on behalf of HB579, @JdmMeuse!
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We passed HB579! It feels so weird to be winning 2 major bills in a row in this legislature! Anyway, next is HB598, on the portion of a minimum sentence to be served to be eligible for parole. This seems like a good step in reducing the size of the prison system, so I support it.
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It’s just about *eligibility* for parole, it doesn’t mean people get parole earlier automatically. They still have to have a hearing and get their parole approved.
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ugh shut up with your points of order, Osborne
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Motion is to ITL, so, voting “no” to overturn the ITL so HB598 can pass
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the reporting of these votes keeps going by too fast
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next is HB620… which we’re tabling, apparently? I thought we wanted to pass it…
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Another motion to table of a bill we want to pass (HB629)? What is going on?
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motion to table fails; phew. I thought this had been another motion to table coming from our side (like the previous one), but apparently it wasn’t…
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HB269 is a cannabis home-grow bill. It’s not a full legalization of cannabis like yesterday’s was, but it’s still a step in the right direction. It seems like this one might have more bipartisan support?
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oops that ought to be 629, not 269
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we don’t need more interim study on this bill; let’s just pass it, instead
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motion to put HB629 to interim study fails; time to pass it!
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sorry I kinda missed the debate on HB632… it’s about ending the practice of giving life sentences to juveniles.
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onto SB92, which would end our bail reform efforts… and we tabled it! Good, hope that kills it.
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next are the education bills… wait we seem to be tabling a lot of stuff today…
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I still get confused by some of these parliamentary maneuverings… I think I get “make a motion to reconsider but oppose that same motion” now, but I’m not quite sure I’ve understood “make a motion to table but oppose that same motion” yet though…
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we’re on HB255 now, which is another one of those anti-vax bills. Let’s kill it.
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public health is public, not personal
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ok we tabled HB255; good.
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onto HB607, which is another one of those public education destruction bill. Let’s kill it.
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Reminder that when the GOP says “the education establishment” they really just mean teachers. The GOP is trying to pass anti-teacher legislation.
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We successfully tabled HB607! I am really surprised at how much stuff is going our way today. Pleasantly surprised! But still, surprised.
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table table table
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I need some table memes
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onto HB87, relative to electioneering. I gotta admit, when I was an election official, it was extremely awkward having to ask people to remove their campaign buttons/gear, and I definitely wouldn’t want to do that again. I’ve got to break with my party here and support this bill.
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don’t force election clerks to become clothing police. If I’m being an election clerk, I just want to focus on checking people in, and that’s it. The existing electioneering laws are pretty new anyways; repealing them would just be going back to how things were before recently.
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HB87 passes; sorry fellow Democrats, but I’m happy about that. It will make life easier for election officials.
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HB327 went by too quickly for me to note; next is HB514, on ballot column rotation. We already have working ballot column rotation; no need to go mucking around with it.
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it stinks that video taping isn’t allowed in the chamber; Dems should change that rule once we get power back
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more tabling
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stuff passing on voice vote; I’m going to skip voice vote things
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now we’re voting on HB204, to create a “Granny D” Day. This is the one where in the hearing for it, some GOP carpetbagger from Massachusetts revealed he’d never even heard of her.
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I’m disappointed that the recommendation here is just “listen to debate” rather than “vote YES”; Dems should be united in support of Granny D’s legacy. Thank you @KrisSchultzNH for speaking in favor of it!
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oh well, another tabling…
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next is HB275, on the governor’s power to initiate a state of emergency. Seems redundant. Meh.
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basically it seems like Republicans are still upset about Sununu’s emergency orders previously. But, he’s stopped them now. So why are they still complaining?
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ok so they’re denying my assumption from my previous tweet; I don’t believe them, though.
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next is HB414, another state of emergency bill. This one doesn’t actually seem COVID-related, though, since it’s about evacuations, and I don’t think there were any evacuation orders under the COVID state of emergency? Also this could be relevant to my pet evacuations bill…
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HB414 passes; next is HB91, on death benefits for first responders who die from suicide… didn’t we already vote on this in a previous session? Anyways, it passes on voice vote.
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more stuff from Finance going by on voice vote; these were all things that were unanimously passed, but couldn’t go on the consent calendar due to having fiscal notes…
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oops I think I made a mistake when I said HB414 passed; apparently we actually killed it? I might have voted wrong on that one due to being confused about whether the motion was OTP or ITL…
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I don’t get why we need such a long speech in support of HB254 if it was unanimously supported previously…
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oh wait apparently someone changed their mind
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I don't get why this is a Finance bill; seems more like a Criminal Justice one...
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ok finally getting around to voting on HB254; so much for my previous prediction that the Finance bills would all go by quickly on voice vote...
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HB254 passes
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ok lunch break
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ok time to return from lunch
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*now* we're getting to the part where stuff goes by quickly on voice votes
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HB591, on liquor license fees, is getting some discussion
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Ok done with Finance bills; onto Fish&Game ones... starting with HB118. This is the one that... well, it's complicated.
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HB118 is ITL-ed; good. Next is HB490, on live-action game cameras.
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HB490 passes; onto the HHS bills. First among them is HB103, establishing a dental benefit for Medicaid... which I thought we'd already voted on previously? I thought the GOP killed it last time... notes say it's been pared down since then, so maybe it'll pass this time?
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Mike Sylvia is lying and saying that Medicaid recipients already have dental benefits, which is flat-out false. I am on Medicaid and have to pay for dental visits out-of-pocket, and it really sucks.
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no, we don't have access to dental benefits if we want it. I was not presented with any of those options when I signed up for Medicaid.
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yeah Medicaid dental benefits! Woo! Meanwhile there's some commotion about reports that there may be a positive COVID test among us.
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Also Republicans all booed when a member motioned for a moment of silence to observe Jan. 6th; perfect reminder that they hate democracy.
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uh we're into Judiciary Committee bills now; HB359, on hairstyle discrimination, died on a voice vote. Next is HB478, a PFAS bill
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listening to the debate on this one
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ok it sounds like I'll support this bill (still HB478); let's defeat the ITL motion on it so we can do an OTP motion instead.
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hey we've got a minimum wage bill now! Let's #RaiseTheWage now! #FightFor15
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lol Republicans reacted so angrily to Josh Adjutant speaking the truth to them.
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Republicans are stuck in what @Noahpinion calls "Econ 101ism" about the minimum wage: they ignore the empirical evidence about minimum wage raises in order to fit everything into their theoretical boxes.
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Oh well, minimum wage raise failed... wish we'd taken a roll call so we could get Republicans on the record opposing it...
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Speaker Packard sounded optimistic about finishing all our bills today, so we're going to try to go kind of quick through the rest of them so we can get out of here.
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Time for the Leg. Admin bill (HB558); I think this was from the hearing I subbed in for someone on in the fall... (study committee for use IT in the legislative process, which is something I'm very interested in!)
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I love @tjsnh; he always gives such good PIs
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oh hey a bill specifically about Hoit Road Marsh in Concord; I've been there multiple times, including once with a high school biology class to measure water quality. Wish I'd heard about this bill beforehand so I could have testified about it!
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This is the bill we're considering (HB571): @ConMonitorNews/1361371351253188610
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there are too many old people in this legislature
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Hear that? "Quiet"! Let's keep it that way. @ExploreNH/750816997408182272
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good grief
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Republicans speaking on this bill be like
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Next up is HB611, an anti-water-fluoridation bill. I thought being anti-water-fluoridation was just a crazy fringe conspiracy theorist wackadoodle territory, but apparently that's the GOP mainstream now...
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ugh a Dick Marple bill... he was abusive to his family, you know.
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ok phew we tabled it
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onto the SciTech bills; first is HB153, which would be a a study committee for universal internet access. Sounds good; let's do it!
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boo, the universal internet study committee got tabled... shame!
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now discussing: HB167, a net metering bill. Didn't we already hear one of these this term?
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anyways net metering is good and we should be passing this instead of tabling it
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boo, it got tabled... next is HB172, a bill to establish greenhouse emission reduction goals. We need a climate plan, so we should do this. Knowing Republicans, it's probably doomed, though...
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yup, it failed. A reminder that the GOP doesn't want to do anything to mitigate our climate crisis.
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microgrids bill
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more tabling... another study committee...
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carbon pricing study committee... seems relevant to an upcoming bill I have!
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getting tired now...
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remember when we made fun of Bush for pronouncing "nuclear" as "nukular"?
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energy efficiency bill up now
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there are competing amendments on this bill; it's confusing
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energy efficiency is good; we should spend more on it
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voting on a "print remarks" motion now
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onto HB355, a Keno bill
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that was supposed to be a "listen to debate" bill, but there was no debate; it just passed on voice vote
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we're in the Ways & Means bills now
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under discussion: HB614, by which Republicans seek to undermine the renewable portfolio standard
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I thought we were going to try to keep things short so we could get out of here youtu.be/rXcJ3ef5H-M
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we're so close to being done...
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last bill!
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ok third reading motion; we made it without having to come back tomorrow!
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it wouldn't be an Al Baldasaro speech without him mentioning his time in the military...
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Al Baldasaro: "Object your ass!"
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Unanimous Consent speeches shouldn't be used for imperialistic diatribes like Al's.
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oh good grief; they're letting him continue...
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Republican priorities: let Al Baldasaro rant about not being able to do imperialism hard enough, but prevent Kathy Rogers from marking the anniversary of the January 6th assault on our democracy
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It's confirmed by this vote: by preventing Kathy Rogers from speaking, Republicans are officially the party of insurrection.
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they stopped @KrisSchultzNH from speaking about the minimum wage, too...
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oh well, time to go home...