Liberty Wins of 2013

July 24th: HB253 signed, it allows a nano brewery to obtain a license upgrade exempting the licensee from sales limitations where the nano brewery has an existing on-premises beverage and wine license and sells food. This allowed nano-breweries to thrive.

June 5th: SB47 signed. Transfer of plates to a spouse is already permitted for POW and Pearl Harbor survivor plates; this would include Purple Heart plates as well. The NHLA strongly supports floor amendment 2013-1993h, which adds the text of HB399 to this bill and would prohibit our state from supporting or implementing the indefinite detention provisions of the NDAA. The original bill had passed unanimously through two House committees and on the floor by a vote of 337–15, before being killed by the Senate. This amendment would help protect the freedoms that our veterans have fought for.

June 5th: SB41 signed. This bill updates the N.H. corporations act to follow model corporate legislation as adopted in other states. Harmonizing our corporate laws with those common in other states will make New Hampshire a more attractive place for businesses to incorporate.

May 8th: SB189 signed. It reduces the mandatory training hours currently required to be a fuel gas service technician from 5,000 to 2,000, and also allows 750 of the 2,000 hours to be fulfilled while servicing oil-fired appliances. The new education requirements are set in statute, rather than rules, ensuring that only the democratically-elected Legislature has the power to amend these requirements rather than unelected bureaucrats.

May 8th: SB45 signed. It allows patients quicker access to medicine they need: If the approval process by a health benefit plan takes more than 48 hours to complete, access to the drug will automatically be approved.

April 24th: SB108 signed. This bill would provide that landowners who allow the use of their land for recreational activity owe no duty of care to individuals engaged in the construction of trails on such land.

March 20th: HB573 signed. This bill would allow the use of therapeutic cannabis. Doctors and patients, not bureaucrats, should be the ones to make important medical decisions. This bill does not violate federal law. States are not required to enforce federal law, and the U.S. Attorney General has declared that the federal government will not prosecute patients in states with this type of legislation. Federal interference in state medical law is a violation of state sovereignty, as protected by Part I, Article 7 of the New Hampshire Constitution.

March 20th: HB575 signed. This bill as amended would expand local control for the hours of sales of on-premises liquor licensees. Businesses should have the freedom to set their own hours to satisfy market and consumer demands. The New Hampshire Constitution guarantees in Part I, Article 2: "All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights—among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; ... and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness."

March 6th: HB146 signed. This bill would increase the speed limit on a rural portion of I-93. It would decrease the number of penalties handed out for the victimless act of speeding. This would only increase the speed limit by five miles per hour, which has not been shown to increase accident rates. The NHLA also supports related bills HB 289-FN (NAY on ITL) and HB 291-FN (NAY on ITL).