legislative action alert week of june 13, 2011

8/6/2019 Legislative Action Alert Week of June 13, 2011

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Legislative Action AlertWeek of June 13, 2011

Jackie [email protected]

Of Lupines and Electric Towers

Bruce and I skipped Maine last weekend and instead took a drive to SugarHill. We were glad we did. The town was celebrating the second weekend ofa 17 day Lupine Festival dedicated to the ornamental plant in the pea family.Despite the forecasted isolated shower that became a steady rainthroughout the day, no amount of grey skies could overshadow thelandscape of brilliant pastel colors.

As we climbed hills into town we saw other visitors pull to the side of theroad and emerge with cameras in hand. Some of the shutter bugs wereobviously amateurs with their miniature Nikon CoolpixTouchscreens used to

snap a pretty picture. Others lugged out their tripods to hold their CanonEOS 1DS Mark III to capture a singular image that might end up in somemagazine or framed on somebodys wall. The panorama would notdisappoint either.

We visited the open air market where lupines were present in every modalitypossible. Photographs and canvasses of watercolors and oils sportedeverything from a single lupine with a fat bumblebee at work pollinating tovast meadows of color. There was pottery with signature lupine and lupineinspired candles for sale throughout the market.

Among the vendors stood a booth whose orange bows and signs contrastedsharply with the pastels of lupine. Messages of Stop Northern Pass andStop the Towers, belied the booths unique purpose. It was, in fact, theother reason that we had made the trip at the invitation of one of its mostvocal and passionate volunteers, Nancy Martland.

This signage had been visible in front of virtually every property leading intoor out of Sugar Hill. The landscape for many residents will profoundlychange if Northern Pass comes to fruition. The community will change for allof them.

For those unfamiliar, Northern Pass is a partnership project of NortheastUtilities, Connecticut-based owners of Public Service Company of NewHampshire and HydroQuebec, a Quebec Province generator of electricpower. Its purpose is to bring high voltage DC (direct current) power linesfrom Quebec to a substation in Franklin, NH that will convert the power intoAC (alternating current) and send it on its way to Massachusetts, Connecticutand New York.

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Folks throughout Coos and Grafton counties are up in arms over the project.More than 2,500 have shown up at public meetings or hearings on NorthernPass. The potential change to their landscape is disheartening enough, butthe issue that has them mobilized and unified is the use of eminent domainto take their land. While PSNH has rights of way for some of the project,

eminent domain will be needed to acquire all of the land necessary forcompletion.

To prevent this, opponents encouraged legislators to bring forward HB 648 torestrict the use of eminent domain by a utility company to cases in which theelectricity is needed for system reliability. That bill passed easily in theHouse but foundered in the Senate where it was re-referred to committee.

It was over a story in the Alert on this legislation that Nancy contacted meand we began an e-mail correspondence about the impacts to hercommunity from Northern Pass. It was at her urging that Bruce and I were in

Sugar Hill.

As the rain intensified and we wrapped up visiting all of the vendors, Nancyinvited us for a cup of coffee at her home about a mile away. She and herhusband Carl live in an 1850 farmhouse that sits about halfway up a steephill. Sitting on her sunporch one can see for miles around. In the distanceCannon Mountain and the Kinsmans range shape the horizon. Closer in andacross the street the land slopes gently away with its meadow grasses andabundance of colorful lupine.

As we admired the view, Nancy pointed out where the 140 foot towers would

slice right through the middle of the skyscape. I suspect that the coffeeinvitation was designed for us to see just that. It was, of course, not onlythe Martland views that would change irreversibly with Northern Pass butthose of many other landowners in the community.

Its easy to see how their lovingly groomed property will lose its marketvalue. Even now sales have been stymied over the potential of NorthernPass. Moreover, the damage to the tourism business in the area seemsinevitable if Northern Pass is completed. It is difficult to imagine anyonewanting pictures of lupine with electrical towers in the fore- or background.

Opponents of the Northern Pass project are counting on their government toensure protection of their property and their way of life. They aredespondent at the re-referral of HB 648, but are looking forward to a happierresult as this bill is worked on and brought to a vote next year. In a politicalclimate in which an increasing number of our legislators believe that themarket can be an arbiter of all disputes, it is clear what the outcome will be ifgovernment fails to carefully defend our citizens interests. Even 2,500

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opponents are no match for the billions of corporate dollars being expendedon this project.

Contents

Page Thought for the Week: Of Lupine and Electric Towers 1Late Breaking News 3The Week in Brief 4

Govs Veto Pen Getting Plenty of Use4

All Eyes on the Budget 6Where are the Jobs? 8

One Moms View 10Update on Redress of Grievance Committee 12Hold Onto Your Hats Sneak Preview 201213

Late Breaking News

Breaking the stalemate on budget negotiations, the Senate caved to Housedemands to include a 10 cent decrease in the cigarette tax. This makes NewHampshire the only state in the country to decrease such a tax.Interestingly, the reduction in what is purported to be a loss of some $15million in revenues was dubbed revenue neutral so there was no off-settingreduction in expenditures in the budget. Most economists interviewed onthe decrease had earlier indicated that it would not result in significantlyhigher sales of cigarettes. If their prediction is correct revenues will decline.

On Wednesday, June 15 the NH Supreme Court ruled it would beunconstitutional for the legislature to mandate the NH Attorney General tojoin the lawsuit against the Patient Projection and Affordable Care Act. TheCourt agreed with the testimony provided by Attorney General Delaney whenlegislation directing him to join the action was heard before the HouseJudiciary Committee. In its ruling, the Court stated the bill which removesentirely from the executive branch the decision as to whether to join thestate as a party to litigation, would usurp the executive branchs power toexecute and enforce the law..[the bill] violates the separation of powersclause and is unconstitutional.

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The unanimous decision by the NH Supreme Court didnt deter Rep. AndrewManuse of Derry from arguing that the legislature should simply ignore theruling and do what they wished. If Rep. Manuse and others like him get hisway there will be tens of thousands of dollars in court fees before this one issettled.

Some legislators may have already planned for the possibility of the Courtsruling, however. There is plenty of legislation in the pipeline to eliminate orwater down the courts role. One bill, for instance, will restrict the courts toonly assessing the constitutionality of their own actions, but not thelegislatures (that is, if the legislature passes a law it will be able todetermine whether its own acts are constitutional). In light of everythingthat has happened to date this year, I hope readers will agree this isdangerous to the nth degree!

The Week in Brief

Committees of Conference are in full swing and working toward a deadline ofThursday, June 16 at noon. By that date all CoCs must have completed theirwork and members must have signed the report generated by thecommittee. This report contains either the negotiated language oflegislation or stipulates that the committee could not come to agreementwhich leads to a bill dying a quiet death. Each chamber must act on CoCreports by Thursday, June 23.The schedule can be found at http://bit.ly/kzecxx. NOTE: The schedule hasbeen found to be incomplete at times so if you want to be certain about thestatus of any bill you may wish to contact the House Clerk at 271-2548 or theSenate Clerk at 271-2111.

Govs Veto Pen Getting Plenty of Exercise:

SB 3, Comprehensive Changes to the NH Retirement System:

On Wednesday, June 15 Governor Lynch vetoed SB 3, a bill that raisedpension contributions of employees to cover debts incurred by municipalitiesand the state over 16 years and reduced benefits to retirees. In aninteresting statement accompanying his veto, the Governor indicated that hewas vetoing SB 3 in anticipation of additional changes to the pension systemthat have now been tucked into the budget bills.

It is becoming increasingly evident that the maneuvering with the pensionsystem has far less to do with sound fiduciary management and far more todo with politics which is just what got the system into the problems thatwere tackled four years ago by the legislature. This is underscored by thefact that the Committee of Conference on the budget accepted anamendment that would nullify the recommendation of the Board of Trusteesof the NH Retirement System. With the guidance of experts and actuaries

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the Board of Trustees lowered the assumed rate of return on the pensiontrust. The immediate impact of that action was to increase the contributionof the state and municipalities. Consequently, the $160 million reductionover the upcoming two years that these stakeholders expected would havebeen cut to $47.6 million.

So what do fiscal magicians do when they dont like the numbers comingfrom a credible formula?? Wave their wands and change the formula, ofcourse. In this instance the Committee simply said they were not taking theexperts advice, they nullified the vote of the Board of Trustees and delayedthe changed formula until 2013, and got the savings they wanted at theoutset. The savings are, however, a shell game.

Once again the legislature is poised to put into place a formula that allowsthe state and municipalities to underfund the NH Retirement System and toultimately break even more promises to public employees. Under thechanges that had already been made to the pension system employees will

be paying considerably more for fewer benefits than they were promisedwhen they made the commitment to serve our communities and state. If thesame lack of ethics and integrity continues to prevail at our statehousepublic employees better plan being told they will make up for the shortfallthat the current legislature is deliberately creating.

So, heres my suggested language for any future contract negotiatedbetween public employees and the state/municipalities: Disclaimer: Nomatter what has been negotiated, please understand that it may be nullifiedby future legislatures. No matter what promises we are making today,please understand we will probably lobby to have those broken by some

future legislature who will be empowered to do so. No matter what trade-offs you make between salary and benefits, please understand you will likelyhave to pay for all of it in the end anyway. Oh, and by-the-way, we reservethe right to not only break all of our agreements but to call you thugs andparasites when we are doing so.

HB 218, Weaking the Rail Transit Authority:

You may recall that the House introduced HB 218 with the intent to repeal inits entirety the Rail Transit Authority in New Hampshire for no other reasonthan that they were ideologically opposed to the concept of rail transit.

State representatives did this despite a loud outcry from the businesscommunity and other stakeholders who believe that rail transit will offer aneconomic boom to their region. The House passed the legislation alsodespite the fact that the Rail Transit Authority cost NH taxpayers nothing andhad received a $1.5 million grant to conduct a feasibility study monies thatwould have been lost if the RTA had been repealed.

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When the bill made it to the Senate that body removed the original languagebut replaced it with language that removed important functions of the RTA.Subsequently, the Governor has vetoed HB 218 and in his veto messagemade the following points: I am vetoing this legislation because businessleaders, particularly in Nashua and Manchester, have clearly said that thisbill will hurt their efforts to grow their businesses, to create jobs and to

attract new companies to New HampshireThe support of the businesscommunity is validated by an independent study that concluded that thedevelopment of rail in the capital corridor could result in more than $2.4billion in new business sales and nearly 1,000 new jobs created and sustainin New Hampshire in the first twenty years of operation.

HB 109, Prohibiting Local Planning Boards from Mandating SprinklerSystems:

Given how often throughout this legislative session we have heard thatdecisions need to be made at the local level, HB 109 stood out as something

of an anomaly though it was hardly the only bill to do so. This legislationwould have prohibited local planning boards from setting their ownstandards for fire suppression systems in one- and two-family dwelling as acondition for receiving local permits. The Governor cited this in his vetomessage and went on to say: I believe that the decision of whether or not torequire fire sprinklers for new or renovated residential development shouldremain a local one. The state should not dictate a required course of action.It is obviously the local community that is impacted from new residentialdevelopment both in terms of land use and in terms of bearing the costs ofproviding increased fire protection services. This legislation will removelocal control over an important issue.

HB 329, Requiring Parental Notification Before Performing Abortion on aMinor:

Despite having signaled that some form of parental notification would beacceptable to him, Governor Lynch stated that he had concerns about HB329, legislation that required parental notification before an abortion isperformed on a minor and instituting criminal penalties for failing to meetthe requirements of this proposed law.

In this veto message, the Governor stated: The decision whether to

complete a pregnancy or seek an abortion is a serious and life-changing onefor any pregnant woman. Minors need and benefit from the support andguidance of their parentsHowever, any law must make reasonableallowances for cases where that is not possible. I am particularly troubled bythe lack of an exception for victims of rape, incest and abuse.

Budget Negotiations Take on Circus Atmosphere

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It was probably inevitable no matter how the Senate tried to hold it togetherand play nice in the sandbox. The House has been so far out of control overthis past legislative year that no amount of reason even from members oftheir own party could produce a thoughtful and rational process.

The Committee of Conference began on an agreeable enough note with the

major decision on what each body was willing to spend (regardless of theneeds of the state) was deftly managed. With little fanfare the confereesarrived at a spending level that was $17 million more than the House hadwanted to spend, $23 million less than the Senate projected in spending anda whopping $267 million less than the Governor felt necessary to meet theneeds of the State. All that was left was to determine where the moneywould be spent.

As the budget conferees slogged through the process of allocating dollars tovarious programs of state government, suddenly at the eleventh hour earlierin the week as the deadline loomed for the committee to have completed its

work, House members brought in some 20 or so last minute and, in somecases, highly technical amendments. Why this surprised Senate conferees isa mystery as exactly the same thing had occurred in the waning hours of theHouse Finance Committees work on the budget.

Senate Finance Chair Chuck Morse went ballistic, publicly berating his Housecolleagues. I spent months putting this budget together in a sophisticatedmanner, and you offer an amendment that could affect everybody in thisstate and we havent debated it. This is absolutely wrong, he bellowed.You could have drafted them and you could have had them to the Senate intime to read them all. This is absolutely wrongWe dont govern like this.

The media widely covered the story on the initial breakdown of negotiationsover the amendments issue. However, Senator Morses statement of havingspent months putting this budget together is also noteworthy. In fact, theSenate Finance Committee members have only had the budget for a littleover a month to work on. Morses reference to having spent months onthe documents lends some credibility to rumors that have swirled for thepast several months that he worked with gubernatorial wannabe JohnStephens to craft New Hampshires biennial budget without unveiling that tohis Senate colleagues.

The Senate has until noon on Thursday, June 16 to sign off on the budget,while the House has until 5 p.m. The House has indicated it is unwilling tosign off until the ten cent a pack decrease in the cigarette tax is included something that sent Senator Morse into a another paroxysm of anger. Heaccused House leadership of reneging on a behind-closed-doors deal thathad been brokered over the budget. Saying that the Senate is totallyoffended by the actions of House leadership and that neither he nor New

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Hampshire would be held hostage over this matter. It remains to be seenwho caves first.

Some noteworthy changes in the budget from the Committee of Conference:

Leasing of Cannon Mountain has been pulled for this year.

Changes to the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act contained inboth the budget bill and a separate piece of legislation appear dead forthis year. The House wanted to use this as a bargaining chip over theirmission to repeal New Hampshires involvement in the regionalgreenhouse gas initiative program. The separate bill on repeal of RGGIhas been vetoed by the Governor.

Elimination of collective bargaining rights are off the table for the timebeing.

The CoC compromise restored some funding for programs at theDepartment of Environmental services saving the shellfish monitoringand the pool and spa inspections programs.

About $2 million was added back to the severe cuts to the UniversitySystem of NH. However, that is not sufficient to prevent the layoffsand tuition increases that are projected to result in massive cuts instate aid.

The new bed tax on hospitals as well as the loss of federal monies tocare for the poor and indigent remain in the compromise budget.

Of central interest in the development of New Hampshires biennial budget iswhether the manner in which the state raises revenues and the prioritiesthat it sets in spending those revenues create a more conducive climate foreconomic growth or a less nurturing climate for expansion. The reviews areclearly not in on a document that has yet to see the ink placed on it nevermind dry. Nonetheless, indications are that the budget that will be in placeon July 2, 2011 will have serious and negative consequences for workersthroughout the state and for the businesses who depend upon a middle classhaving adequate financial resources and being willing to spend some of thaton the necessities and niceties of life.

My personal prediction is that we will soon find ourselves sliding backward ineconomic terms with rising unemployment, increasing home foreclosuresand decreasing home values and a decreasing standard of living in NewHampshire. Below are some of the first indicators of what may be in store.

Where Are the Jobs??

For 18 straight months leading into 2011 New Hampshires unemploymentrate inched its way down the glory days of below 5%. With only a temporarysetback it continued on that path to its current status of 4.9%, one of themost favorable unemployment rates in the country.

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Throughout the Great Recession, as it has been referenced, New Hampshirelost 28,000 jobs thats 28,000 New Hampshire citizens who foundthemselves without a job. Economists had initially predicted that those jobswould come back or be replaced by the middle of 2012. That prediction hasnow been pushed out by at least a year to mid-year 2013. http://bit.ly/kWyEiW

According to Dennis Delay, economist with NH Public Policy, theunemployment rate has been dropping, not solely because jobs are beingcreated, but because some workers have moved out of state and some havesimply stopped looking, a phenomenon referred to as discouragedworkers. Had some not dropped out of the rate the actual unemploymentwould be 5.3% according to Delay.

So the question is: How will policies put in place by the current legislaturehelp or harm the already stalled pace of job creation? Remember that all ofthese folks ran on the mantra they would rein in spending and create jobs.

How are they doing?

If some of the preliminary numbers are any indication, not so good. In fact,to paraphrase Rep. Bachman their report card would have a big failinggrade on it! The latest numbers illustrating that point include:

400 700 state employees will find themselves in the unemploymentline by the end of this year

200 folks are slated to be pink-slipped by the University of NH as partof their efforts to deal with a 45%-50% cut in state aid to UNH

15-88 state police (the current range between the Senate and the

House) may find themselves looking for employment. 15-88 state police (the current range between the Senate and the

House) may find themselves looking for employment.

20 people with full-time jobs at NH Public Television were laid off lastweek

Several dozen Department of Environmental Services employees maybe pounding pavement soon. This figure will be over and above thegeneral figure of lay-offs for state employees above.

An as yet unspecified number of layoffs are anticipated from hospitalsand healthcare systems throughout the state as a result of the newconfiscatory tax on these healthcare providers. Hospitals are projectedto sustain losses of $126.9 million this year and an additional $131.7million next year.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of jobs in the private, non-profit social servicenetwork are rumored to be in jeopardy as the results of budget cutsthat affect the servies they provide. At one point during Housenegotiations this number was rumored to be upwards of a couplethousand under the worst scenarios. Given the reinstatements of

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some programs by the Senate, job losses are unlikely to reach suchlevels. However, many area agencies serving the elderly, those withmental illness and those with developmental disabilities will findthemselves needing to make tough choices.

Some job losses are more difficult to immediately quantify but those affected

know they are coming. For example, the aggregate cuts in spending onroads/bridges, school building and hospital building and expansion isprojected to hit the construction industry hard say industry insiders. Manyworkers within these trades have already gone without employment or havebeen under-employed throughout this lingering recession. Cuts in a diversearray of construction projects will prolong this misery for these workers.

Projected job losses will have an escalating ripple effect within eachcommunity throughout the state. Over the coming months we will see moremortgage defaults, more properties foreclosed upon, loss of property taxrevenues to already cash-strapped municipalities, fewer dollars flowing

within the community and supporting local businesses and added stress tosocial service providers such as hospitals and mental health centers whohave already been severely impacted by new taxes and loss of federaldollars as in the case of hospitals or loss of state subsidies to care for theindigent in the case of mental health centers.

This phenomenon of an economic dominoe effect has been discussed in pastissues of the Alert. For a very succinct overview of what is happening to oureconomy please see http://bit.ly/lFfgMI. This two minute and fifteen secondclip by Robert Reich, noted economist and former Labor Secretary underPresident Clinton, tells you everything you need to know about why the

economy is in the shape it is in. And, it happily just happens to agree withwhat Ive been saying in several issues of the Alert!

Personal Perspective on Budget Impacts:

The budget that is about to pass is only marginally less draconian and painfulthan that passed by the House that drew 5,000 of our citizens in protest.There will be a few more children at risk helped, but the majority, some 400,wont be. There will be a few more individuals with disabilities assisted, butmany wont be. Remember that although legislators reinstated some moniesthey also changed the law that requires full funding for the developmental

disabilities waitlist. They need that for what they know will be a shortfall.There will be more individuals with mental illness provided services, manymore wont be.

Ive made the lists of cuts and talked about the impacts of these severaltimes in the Alert. However, simply enumerating each slash to our socialservice network fails to capture the personal pain that will be felt by ourfellow citizens. That personal perspective was shared by Gloria Ruff of

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Keene in her testimony before House finance. With her permission I share itwith you.

Testimony of Gloria Ruff on Proposed Budget Cuts:

I am here as the stepmom to a 19-year old young man.

80% of those in need of developmental services are unsafe toleave at home alone. The increasing freedoms that most parentsenjoy as their children grow in age and independence are deniedfamilies who have members with disabilities.

Job coaches, respite, both in-home and semi-independent out-of-home supports and placements are not just nice things to have-theyare human needs that cannot wait. The families and the disabledthemselves are denied as full and productive a life experience as theycould have. If supports are cut, my son will be home with me 24/7,bored and lonely, as he is not safe at home alone and will needsupports and training for employment.

I appreciate you being here to listen to the public speak, butmostly Im angry. Im angry that draconian measures are laid on theshoulders of our most vulnerable populations and their families tobalance a budget. All of these groups youve heard from today areworthy.

Im most angry that so many people have had to take time awayfrom their jobs and caring for their families to travel here, hat inhand, to beg our representatives to simply do what is right.

Im sick of politicians alternately bragging and hand-wringing thatthey are here to make the hard choices. I submit that they are notmaking any hard choices because their decisions do not affect them!A hard choice is whether to keep a roof over your familys head byworking productively-while risking a members safety, or to stay athome to ensure their safety and putting the whole family in need of

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welfare services. A hard choice is whether to pay ones ever-increasing property taxes, or to sacrifice other necessities such aswarm clothing, heat in the winter, a healthy diet, or medicines.

Im angry that cutting the legs out from under anyone strugglingto get or to stay on their feet as a responsible citizen is evenconsidered in such a wealthy state, especially when taxes are beingcut and even eliminated for those best able to afford them. To addinsult to injury, new money is being sought to pay for ridiculous thingssuch as state militias. I suspect Im not alone in my anger.

Thank you.

Gloria RuffKeene, NH

Update on Redress of Grievances Committee

You may recall a discussion in the Alert of the highly conflicted HouseRedress of Grievances Committee. This committee allows legislators to takeup petitions of private citizens against the courts of our state, to hold open

hearings about which impacted parties may or may not be notified and topropose remedies for the petitioner which may or may not includeoverturning court decisions and/or impeaching judges and masters. Therecognition that it is something other than justice that is likely to bedispensed by a highly political body should be immediately apparent to evena judicial neophyte. The clear and present danger to the constitutionalbalance of power that has survived since our founding should strike fear intothe heart of every rational person.

In a recent editorial, Judge Edwin Kelly, the target of one of the currentpetitions before the Redress committee, provides an historical and well-reasoned perspective of the implications of continuing on with this body. Healso elaborates on the conflicts that the Chair of this committee, Rep. PaulIngrebretson had that went well-beyond what he acknowledged in steppingdown on the widely reported petition brought by David Johnson.Ingrebretson and many members of his caucus including House leadershiphad role-played this committee in 2009 and had already formed an opinionof this case as well as the remedial action he would take. It is clear that

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leadership knew precisely what would be presented in hearings before thecommittee and what decisions they wanted. The media spotlight that hasshined on them may have given some pause with moving ahead now, butthere are already new petitions being filed for the upcoming year.

Judge Kelly masterfully explains how this new creation of the current

legislature is undoubtedly upsetting the careful balance between the threebranches of government established by far wiser individuals than are nowgoverning us. His guest editorial is well worth the read and can be found athttp://bit.ly/iZBTPO.

Sneak Preview:

Strap Yourselves In: Theyre About to Go Into Over-drive!

Maybe its because they won so impressively last fall. Maybe its becausethey believe they have been touched by the Almighty to enlighten NewHampshires citizens who wandered in the darkness before they arrived onthe scene to save us. Maybe its because they are so ardently ideologicallydriven that no information save that confirming what they already believeseeps in.

Whatever the reason one thing is clear: The Statehouse gang doubled downin ways that can only the labeled extraordinary and not in a good way. Thehundreds upon hundreds of citizens who showed up at the Statehouse duringthis legislative session to protest extremist bills have not deterred our

stalwart guardians of the public trust. Just a peak at some of whats in storefor the next legislative session includes the following:

2012-H-2504-R, Requiring the courts to give every woman who gets arestraining order a gun and a box of ammunition and provide her withinstruction in shooting. I know, I know you think Im making this up!The prime sponsor for this creative government-mandated andsponsored self-defense program is Rep. Robert Kingsbury whorepresents Belknap, District 4, Laconia. Rep. Kingsbury is a self-described member of the John Birch Society since 1962.http://bit.ly/iJxspI Can somebody explain what the good citizens of

Laconia were thinking when they put him in government? Has anyonefrom Laconia watched what he has done when in office?

2012-H-2026-R, Establishing a permanent state defense force. TheNew Hampshire army is back! Despite the fact that this bill failed togarner sufficient support for passage in the current year its back for asecond go-round. The sponsor of this New Hampshire protection planis Rep. Daniel Itse, Fremont, Rockingham, District 9.

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2012-H-2107-R, Prohibiting a person from being charged with speedingunless there is a victim of the offense. This is the Free Stater DreamAct. Passage of this bill will make it penalty-free to be a Roadrunneron our streets unless one accidently mows someone down or crashesthrough their front window. Please note, however, that being scared

into a heart attack is unlikely to allow you to press charges as avictim. Rep. George Lambert, a Free State Project member servingHillsborough, District 17 from Litchfield is the prime sponsor of this billand other equally loopy bills such as that prohibiting prosecution for avictimless crime think doing drugs on this one which for someinexplicable reason is important to this crew.

2012-H-2175-R, Urging congress to privatize all aspects of socialsecurity. Not content to simply allow their federal counterparts tounravel the social contract that our country proudly entered into withour seniors seven decades ago (and which Republicans of a by-gone

era supported), state legislators want to send a message to dismantleit. We all know how well the stock market has performed over thispast decade, now dont we?? Im sure that these same folks are justlicking their chops over helping us manage our little nest eggs, not tomention being able to extract fees for doing so. Rep. Jerry Bergevin ofManchester serving Hillsborough, District 17, an avowed libertarian isthe prime sponsor.

2012-H-2176-R, Requiring the teaching of evolution in the schools as atheory. Maybe Ive been out of school for too long, but I could havesworn that we already refer to the Theory of Evolution. But perhaps

the sponsor has something a bit different in mind here? The primesponsor is the same Rep. Jerry Bergevin as above.

2012-H-2320-R, Requiring the teaching of intelligent design in thepublic schools. Ahhh, perhaps this one coordinates nicely with theabove teach evolution as some pseudo-science guessing game andforget that there is any such thing as separation of church and state.Rep. Gary Hopper of Weare, serving Hillsborough, District 7 is theprime sponsor.

There are plenty more where these came from 57 pages in all so far and

those are only House bills. Well be adding to that list over the summer andfall so that you are full apprised of legislation being introduced in yourStatehouse. That last point may be difficult to remember at times givenwhat we have been thought this year, but it is an important fact that each ofus should keep at the forefront of our minds. This is our state and we didntagree to turn it over to folks with this kind of extreme agenda. We are theonly ones who can take it back. That is going to take a concerted efforttoward letting our families, friends and neighbors know what is happening.

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Please spend time over the coming months sharing the information on whatwas introduced and what passed this year as well as what has beenintroduced for next year. Our only hope of bringing common sense andreason back to our state government

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legislative action alert week of june 13, 2011

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