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House is in session at the State House today; got a few early Senate bills to consider. Relatively lighter workload today: only 28 bills today (compared to the hundreds we had previously). Livetweet thread begins here. #NHPolitics
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Reminder of policies: #NHPolitics hashtag only gets included at the start; I skip tweeting about votes that go by quicker than I can type (usually voice votes).
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Pastor Bob is leading the prayer again
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national anthem today: a youth choir from Manchester
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lots of absences today
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.@nhhouseclerk reading a memorialization for Kathi Rogers now
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Rep. Shurtleff has a separate speech in memory of @katbeep to give
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Hm, Rep. Shurtleff said Kathi's last speech was on the 31st, but looking back on my livetweet thread from the day, I didn't seem to note it... kinda regretting that I missed writing anything about it...
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Resolution about our #FITN primary adopted unanimously on voice vote
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Happy #NewHampshireTartanDay
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I should have worn my tartan necktie today; I was considering it, but then thought "oh wait we already had that, didn't we?"
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...so, that's what, 6, or 7 deaths in the legislature this term? Their names all just got read but I failed to keep up with my counting... anyways, seems like more than normal...
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ok looks like one of the bills that might've gotten removed from the consent calendar didn't actually get removed, so that means we only have 27 bills today, not 28 (by my count)
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Rep. Lynn currently speaking against committee amendment to SB458 (about the Sununu youth center); he has his own separate amendment he'll be wanting to introduce
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ughhhh Rep. Lynn is such a darn propertarian
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Stop caring about property so much more than you care about people's lives! #PeopleOverProperty
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Republicans want to continue mass incarceration, based on this debate.
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Amendment is adopted; I guess we must have gotten enough crossover Republican support... time for Rep. Lynn's own amendment...
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Thank you @EppingRep for your speeches against Rep. Lynn's attempts to water down this bill!
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Lynn amendment fails; time to pass SB458 as originally amended
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SB458 passes with a healthy margin; onto bills from Criminal Justice & Public Safety. First is SB291, a study committee about unmarried cohabitants, domestic partnerships, and common law marriage. @JdmMeuse is speaking on behalf of it.
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Darryl Abbas thinks this issue is already settled, and that a study committee would be unnecessary. Personally I like study committees and am generally predisposed to support them (unless they're something ridiculous), and this specific one could help me out...
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(one reason @CJluvsMJ27 and I haven't moved in together yet, besides our inability to decide on which of our states we'd do so in, is just how many legal complexities it'd introduce, so this study committee could theoretically help us)
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SB291 is ITL-ed; oh well... next is SB306, a bill increasing(?) penalties for texting while driving
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so, conflicting principles here: on the one hand, my opposition to automobiles pulls me towards supporting this bill, but on the other hand, my opposition to mass incarceration pulls me towards opposing the bill...
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This is a Republican vs. Republican debate; conflict between their tough-on-crime wing and their libertarian wing...
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SB306 passes by a comfy margin; next: SB401, a bill for the Department of Transportation for dash cams (among other things).
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John Burt thinks this bill violates people's privacy, which... like, how often do you come across DOT vehicles anyways? I don't think it's really something worth worrying about...
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Another GOP-vs-GOP debate here; similar breakdown to the previous one
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if you ever see me type "president" instead of "previous" I blame my autocomplete suggestions
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SB401 passes; next is SB456... and it's already tabled.
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Next: Education bills; SB381 goes by on voice vote
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Ugh they're role-call-ing SB420 despite it having passed out of committee unanimously; we probably could have passed this on voice vote
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SB420 passes (that should have "roll-call" not "role-call" btw)
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Attempt to remove HB172 (climate bill) from the table; probably won't succeed, but it's worth getting people on record...
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heard in January: @cooljeanius/1479194364605878274
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Rep. Vose lies that the climate change that's occurring isn't catastrophic
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That fails; now @RepMcWilliams is trying to remove HB1506 from the table
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This one was from February: @cooljeanius/1494390581887389707
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I guess the SciTech Dems are doing this to mark Earth Day
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Nice P.I. @RepMcWilliams!
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HB1506 stays on the table; onto Election Law bills
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Current bill: SB242, a GOP bill to mess with election officials
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I mean I get that moderators running for other offices could be an issue, but in this case the solution seems like it could be worse than the problem; it's hard enough finding moderators as it is, and it'd be worse to go without one.
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SB242 passes; oh well, if it gets struck down as unconstitutional, don't say we didn't try to warn you...
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Next: SB365: re: absentee ballot envelopes
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SB365 basically just makes the whole absentee ballot process easier for election officials; would have been nice to pass it, but unfortunately it got ITL-ed...
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Next: SB418, the provisional ballots bill. This is a big one and could threaten our #FITN status. I hope we can kill it.
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Basically this bill would significantly weaken our same-day registration process, and may possibly be unconstitutional.
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Republicans doing the "stoke doubt in elections, then use those doubts to support voting restrictions" two-step again
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Every time Republicans cite "lack of faith in elections" they need to be called out on the fact that that's something they caused
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SB418 passes and gets referred to Finance; there's still a chance to stop it there, I guess...
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SB425 goes by on voice vote; now: SB427, an absentee ballot bill. Not quite full excuse-free absentee voting, but it's a step, at least.
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SB427 is ITL-ed; reminder that Republicans oppose efforts to make voting easier. Lunch break now...
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made it back just in time for the "gentlemen remove their jackets" motion (except she said "coats" and it came out sounding like "clothes")
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ok current bill: SB438, a "buy American" bill for state gov't.
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Current speaker against the bill (Santonastaso) is a secessionist, so he must be objecting to the "American" part
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"investipedia dot com defines comparative advantage as..." oh good grief
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oh no, higher labor costs! You mean... companies might have to treat their workers fairly? The horror!
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replace "businesses" with "Santonastaso" here and you get the idea of his argument: @VeryBadLlama/1470111507954475013
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ok so we're having another Republican vs. Republican debate here; it's America Firsters vs. libertarians
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ok so we do actually have a Dem speaking on this bill
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aaaaagggghhh @wmarshcc8 got a "steal/steel" pun into his P.I.
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SB438 passes; guess we got some crossover!
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onto HHS bills
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current bill: SB403, a farmers market SNAP WIC credit.
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personally my current SNAP amount (with the Emergency Allotment) is enough already, and I'm not much of a farmers market person, but then again I'm not a Woman, Infant, or Child, so I guess they probably need it more than I do...
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also local agriculture is a good thing to support
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ugh, Baldasaro motions to table...
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boo, motion to table passes; we seem to be losing attendance...
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Next: SB407, expanding Medicaid postpartum health services. Seems like a good idea; let's pass it!
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amendment to add a sunset clause passes... oh well, it's still a good bill anyways; we should still pass it even if the amendment has made it worse
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ok SB407 passes and gets sent to Finance; next bill is SB416, about behavioral health assessment/treatment for kids
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so wait I'm confused as to what happened there... anyways onto SB430
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SB430 is kind of an omnibus
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ok next: SB459, about health care facility workplace violence prevention
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Layon floor amendment to SB459 is adopted; Baldasaro moves to table
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oh wait nvm motion to table is withdrawn; we're voting to pass SB459 now
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apparently the Layon amendment wasn't bad enough to ruin the bill, so we ended up voting to pass SB459 by a wide margin
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oh hey looks like we're almost done
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Current bill: SB346, which would have @NHDES do a study to see if we can build a pier at Hampton Beach
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SB346 passes on voice vote; time for the redistricting bills...
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SB240 is the bill to gerrymander the State Senate
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thank you for calling out GOP gerrymandering of our state senate, @LWMcV!
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wait we're allowed to motion to table redistricting bills? Cool! If it stays on the table, I guess that just means we stay with our current districts? Anyways thanks @tjsnh for the motion!
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SB240 passes; oh well, so much for any competitive State Senate races this decade... onto SB241, the Executive Council gerrymander...
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SB241 passes; looks like the Executive Council will continue to be gerrymandered for this decade, too (albeit in a different way from how it's been gerrymandered for the past decade)
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Final bill from the regular calendar: SB442, about toll evasion
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SB442 passes; onto the bills removed from the consent calendar
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SB376 is a bill to create a board to review police incidents involving citizens affected by mental health issues. Seems like a decent idea, as long as it comes with actual consequences for police officers who mess up in such incidents
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Osborne is moving to table in response to this amendment from Abbas; unsure what's going on between the two of them...
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ooh one vote margin!
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ok done with our final bills; closing up now
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there are a few unanimous consent speeches to be given, apparently
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.@mannyfornh apologizes for breaking the "no props" rule (which is a dumb rule, IMO; we ought to be allowed to use props)
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Uh... Jason Osborne is withdrawing... what is going on here?!
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Unanimous consent speeches are such sources of drama
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there seems to be some sort of procedural trickery afoot
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huh, I was one of only 10 people to vote against Rep. Ammon continuing; I guess the seats around me aren't really representative of the body as a whole...
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oh I see Rep. Ammon is using #FITN to attack the Dems
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He should have supported my bill to expand our state's diversity if he wants to keep us first!
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.@mariapz1974 speaking about @NHDemLatinos dropping the "Dem" from their name...
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ok I think we're actually done now