Liberty Wins of 2016

June 6th: SB481 signed into law, abolishing Certificates of Need for hospitals.

June 1st: HB1301 signed, This bill respects a parent's right to determine the satisfactory level of academic performance required for a youth certificate of employment. Current NH law puts an unfair hurdle in place for all non-public school students seeking employment by forcing public school superintendents and principals into a role of responsibility for students they do not know. According to a Harvard Graduate School of education report (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4740480), teens who have good high school work experiences are more likely to be inspired to stay in school, graduate, and adopt ambitious goals. Existing law grants public school principals or superintendents the exclusive right to approve work certificates. Parents, however, better understand the full set of challenges that the student faces outside of the school. Current law effectively requires homeschoolers, charter school students or students attending private schools to seek permission from the local public school's principal/superintendent who has no connection to the student's school work and performance.

June 1st: HB1227 signed, This bill removes an unnecessary prohibition on Sunday business activities. This bill repeals outdated laws prohibiting or regulating Sunday business activities and removes differing Sunday hours for bingo and games of chance. Existing laws banning business activities on Sundays are regularly and widely ignored, and do not align with common practices in the state.

June 1st: HB606 signed, This bill reduces fees for NH residents and makes government more accessible. This bill will encourage people to ask for electronic delivery of documents, reducing the costs of handling paperwork. Government should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can pay the fees.

June 1st: HB114 signed, This bill allows specialty beer retail establishments to obtain a new license that doesnt require a $3000 inventory value of grocery items. Many stores meet the current grocery requirement by keeping Spam, Vienna sausages, and other canned items that don't spoil quickly, which are never sold. For a beer & wine store, this requirement is wasteful, protectionist, and serves as a barrier to entry to small stores. This will help to increase beer tourism which is a hot market in New England. New Hampshire is lagging behind neighboring states in this growing market.

June 1st: HB605 - signed, This bill repeals mandatory minimum sentencing for specific crimes. Mandatory minimums remove discretion from the courts, often forcing judges to impose sentences far longer than are appropriate for the situation and the crime. Restoring discretion enables the Judiciary to perform its constitutional role. Reducing use of excessively long minimum sentences will help slow the growth of prison populations.

May 5th: HB1210 - signed, This bill slightly liberalizes telemedicine by increasing the conditions under which a physician may prescribe controlled substances as part of an ongoing patient relationship. Liberalizing telemedicine can reduce health care costs and expand patient choice. The bill requires that the prescriber has a prior in-person practitioner-patient relationship.

May 5th: HB1186 - signed, This bill repeals the existing unenforceable prohibition on coasting vehicles. Existing law is not enforceable as there is no external indication that a vehicle is in neutral. Coasting can reduce wear on vehicles and save fuel. As long as the rules of the road are followed, there is no danger to others from a coasting vehicle.

May 5th: HB1138 - signed, This bill gives terminally ill patients more options for treatment while protecting all involved. The individual should be able to make fully informed healthcare decisions about their treatment, and not have to wait for the FDA to approve such treatments. Allowing terminally ill patients to try other treatments could save their lives while advancing modern medicine at the same time. Some terminally ill patients travel to foreign countries to try these treatments. This bill will allow the patient to remain close to friends and families in their time of need. 27 states have passed similar laws.

May 12th: HB197 - signed, This bill allows wine manufacturers to establish up to 2 'off site' locations for sampling and purchase of their wines. Wine manufacturers should be permitted to sell their product where their potential customers are, not restricted to selling where grapes grow best. Allowing local businesses to showcase local products benefits NH residents and helps the NH economy. Additional jobs will be created to run off-site tasting rooms.

April 21st: HB1451 - signed, This bill reduces the injustice done to innocent, convicted persons. This bill as amended allows a person who was convicted of a criminal offense whose conviction was subsequently vacated by a court to petition for an annulment of the arrest record or court record or both. Having the option to petition for annulment allows a wrongly convicted individual to at least partially restore their official reputation.

April 21st: HB601 - signed, This bill reduces the annual cash machine notification renewal fee by $45. The current fee is excessively high, going beyond covering the administrative costs of regulation. The NHLA would more strongly support the bill as originally introduced; eliminating annual notification requirements for cash dispensing machine operators entirely.

March 31st: HB1419 - signed, This bill requires minutes of nonpublic sessions under the right-to-know law to include the vote of each member in all actions taken. The NH Constitution, Part 1 Article 8: ... Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted. This bill helps to achieve this requirement. Retains ability for public bodies to conduct nonpublic sessions while ensuring the public has a right to know the voting record of their representatives.

March 31st: HB1418 - signed, This bill clarifies the required content for non-public meeting minutes. The NH Constitution, Part 1 Article 8: ... Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted. This bill helps to achieve this requirement. Provides that minutes kept in nonpublic sessions are consistent with minutes kept in public sessions while maintaining the existing protections outlined in RSA 91-A:3 (e.g. preventing the release of information that would adversely the reputation of any person, other than a member of the public body itself.)

March 31st: HB1388 - signed, This bill allows a person who has purchased a muzzleloader license to hunt deer with a crossbow. The state has no compelling interest in limiting the means of effectively and safely taking deer. Some NH families rely on deer season to provide high quality locally sourced protein. This bill would allow families to utilize alternate safe means for taking deer potentially saving them money.

March 24th: HB1438 - signed, This bill improves equality and consistency of law by allowing trailers to be registered as antique regardless of the number of axles. Antique trailers are not used as frequently as newer trailers, so it’s right that registering an antique trailer should be less costly.

March 17th: HB500 - signed, This bill allows use of suppressors for noise reduction while hunting.

March 9th: HB1453 - signed, This bill allows patients suffering from ulcerative colitis access to medical cannabis, if recommended by their doctor. Ulcerative Colitis is a serious, incurable disease. Symptoms include loss of appetite, malnutrition, chronic pain, oral ulcers, rectal bleeding, diarrhea, and insomnia. Despite treatment, symptoms can reoccur at any time. Symptoms of ulcerative colitis are similar to those of Crohn’s disease, which is already included in the the list of qualifying medical conditions. Indeed, Crohn's patients are often misdiagnosed as Colitis patients, and vice-versa. It would be unfair to afford relief to one group of patients and not to the other. Asking patients in chronic and severe pain to wait months or longer for centers to open, before waiting again for a new legislative session and a new bill, effectively puts the convenience of the Legislature above the immediate and serious needs of the constituents.