By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – The full House voted on a wide array of bills – many of them controversial – ranging from gun rights to parents’ rights and bail reform among others Tuesday in a busy session that continues tomorrow and Thursday.
House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, opened the session saying he would be sitting down much of the day because he took a nasty fall on ice on Sunday. The session ended shortly after 6:30 p.m. and will resume Wednesday at 9 a.m.
All of the bills that were voted ought to pass or ought to pass with amendment Tuesday will then go to the Senate.
They include HB 1178 voted ought to pass with amendment that prohibits the state from enforcing any federal statute, regulation or Presidential executive order that restricts or regulates the right to keep and bear arms. The vote was 190 to 147.
Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, said the bill will only get more guns in the hands of criminals. And cause friction between state and federal law enforcement officials.
It won’t make New Hampshire any safer, Meuse said.
Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Windam, said, “We are fortunate to live in a state that strongly supports the right to keep and bear arms.” Unfortunately, at the federal level, that is not the case, Lynn said.
“Indeed, based upon its actions to date it seems that the present administration in Washington regards the Second Amendment as a pesky nuisance that it would repeal in a heartbeat” if it had the power to do so, Lynn said.
The administration has set about a course to “emasculate the Second Amendment,” Lynn said.
One legislator reminded the Speaker that Lynn inappropriately ascribed motives to the President that “may or may not be true.” Another House member asked that the debate on HB 1178 be preserved in the House permanent record, which members voted to do.
After the vote, Meuse said:
“Prohibiting New Hampshire officials from cooperating with federal laws and regulations is a disturbing overreach of the state legislature and a threat to public safety. HB 1178 is not about protecting gun rights. Our state and federal constitutions already do that.”
House Bill 1096, a bill that would have prohibited open carrying or displaying a deadly weapon within 100 feet of a polling place was voted inexpedient to legislate 190 to 153.
House Bil 1668 requiring a background check prior to any commercial firearm sale was also voted inexpedient to legislate 179 to 144.
After the vote, prime sponsor Rep. Katherine Rogers, D-Concord, said, “We know that when a firearm is involved in a domestic conflict, women are five times more likely to be killed. We also know that 3 in 4 crime guns traced to an out-of-state seller were first sold in states with no background check laws, like New Hampshire.”
Another controversial bill, House Bill 1476 relative to people arrested while out on bail was voted ought to pass with amendment 199 to 134.
This bill provides that a person who commits an offense while on bail shall be detained without bail pending a hearing before a judge.
Rep. Ross Berry, R-Manchester, called it a bipartisan effort over the last six months to address bail reform and said it leaves the core principles of past bail reform intact.
Rep. Chris True, R-Sandown, disagreed. He said anyone out on bail arrested for the third time for a class B misdemeanor could be held for up to three or four days before they see a judge.
He said it would disproportionately hurt homeless people, those with drug problems or mental illness who if they were convicted would only face a fine and no jail time.
“They are the ones among us who have the very least,” True said. He quoted the words from a song by the disco music group the Bobby Fuller Four, “I fought the law and the law won.”
After the vote, Berry said, “Everyone agrees that something needs to be done to tighten current bail reform laws. This bill does just that.”
He said property crime is up year over year in Manchester since bail reform passed, and “police are worn down from having to arrest the same people over and over again, just to see them walk free a few hours later.”
“Although well meaning, clearly the policy of catch-and-release has backfired…I look forward to presenting this bill to the Senate,” Berry said.
In an op-ed piece published in InDepthNH.org and other news outlets, Ronelle Tsheila, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Manchester and Clifton West Jr., co-founder of Black Lives Matter Seacoast, urged lawmakers to kill the bill.
“And, because New Hampshire’s criminal laws are enforced with staggering racial bias, this new law would disproportionately harm the same communities that our political leaders have said they support.
“How? Because Black people are disproportionately arrested, they will also be disproportionately incarcerated under this mandated one-size-fits-all legislation,” Tsheila and West wrote.
The House also voted 170-143 to kill HB 1261 prohibiting the use of Native American mascots in public schools, colleges, and universities.
Following the vote, Rep. Linda Tanner, D-Georges Mills, a member of the House Education Committee, said:
“We heard testimony from Indigenous Granite Staters that Native American mascots are insulting, demeaning, and racist. Images of these mascots in public schools, colleges, and universities harm Indigenous youth, perpetuating negative caricatures and stereotypes that contribute to discrimination and disregard for the dignity of native peoples.”
House Bill 1431 establishing a parental bill of rights was voted ought to pass with amendment 181 to 157.
And House Bill 1503 exempting the developer, seller, or facilitator of the exchange of an open blockchain token from certain securities laws passed 187 to 150.
