By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — The House Thursday agreed with no debate to a $277.7 million capital budget bill as members decided what to do with House bills the Senate changed.
Along with the capital budget, the House failed to agree on a number of options for a bill that would for the first time in over 50 years divide Strafford County into three districts to elect their own commissioner.
And the House killed a bill that would have required an electric utility’s bill to reflect the average cost for an average residential electric ratepayer for the state’s renewable portfolio standard.
The House agreed to Senate changes on bills that would remove fentanyl and xylazine testing equipment from the definition of drug paraphernalia; to build a new legislative parking garage on the lot where the Attorney General’s office building is and moving that agency to another location, and two bills dealing with developmentally disabled services, one dealing with quality control and the other providing budget flexibility for the Department of Health and Human Services for those services.
The House asked for conference committees on a number of bills, including one for off-site school tuition agreements approved by school boards, a bill that removes the “gay panic” excuses for a person’s defense, and a bill expanding the health providers who may approve cannabis therapy prescriptions, and a bill on bail commissioners.
Capital Budget
The House approved the Senate’s version of the capital budget spending a total of $277.7 million on construction and rehabilitation projects, with $137.4 million in state general obligation bonds.
The projects include a new $17 million district courthouse in Rochester, $7 million for a building on Hall Street for the Department of Education and a continuing construction program for the University System of New Hampshire at $17 million.
Playgrounds
House Representatives lined up to support House Bill 467 to require any new playground to have accessible pathways that would allow the use of wheelchairs.
Today many supporters of the bill said children with disabilities have to sit on the sidelines and watch other children play because pathways do not allow access by wheelchair.
Rep. William Boyd, R-Merrimack, said he believes in the tacit understanding that “we should leave our children something better than what we received.”
He hopes to leave his children and their children something better, and that is easier access to playgrounds.
But Rep. Len Turcotte, R-Barrington, said nothing currently inhibits any city or town from doing what the bill would require.
He said it is a mandate to municipalities that imposes greater requirements than the federal American with Disabilities Act which has encompassing regulations and requirements for playgrounds and accessibility making any new playground projects more expensive and may mean fewer are built.
He said the state should not mandate anything that a town may decide on its own.
“This bill says we need New Hampshire to be a ‘Nanny State’ to mandate beyond the ADA,” Turcotte said. “This is a state mandate imposed that we do not need.”
But supporters of the bill with the Senate changes said it is a civil rights issue.
The House voted down a motion to non-concur and ask for a committee of conference on a 199-161 vote, before agreeing to concur to the Senate version on a voice vote.
Stafford County
The House eventually approved a committee of conference for House Bill 75 which as amended by the Senate would divide Strafford County into three districts, each with their own commissioner.
For many years Strafford County has elected its three commissioners at large.
Opponents of the plan said that arrangement has provided an effective and efficient county commission that has worked well for the county, while the new plan is driven by partisan politics and goes against the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The county is one of the more Democratic in the state, and the proposed plan would group Republican leaning towns in the northern part of the county into one district.
Proponents of the plan said it is weighted heavily in favor of the cities in the county leaving the towns with few if any representatives over the years.
They claimed the change is being proposed now because the census data arrived late last year when the legislature did its redistricting due to COVID.
But opponents said it would be unconstitutional to redraw political boundaries after the process was completed last year and open the gate to redrawing political lines whenever it suits one party or another.
The House at first voted down a motion to concur with the Senate changes on a 185-188 vote, and then failed to approve a motion to non-concur and kill the bill on a 185-188 vote.
An attempt to table the bill failed before a motion to non-concur and ask for a committee of conference was approved on a 188-186 vote.
Renewable Portfolio
House Bill 251 would require electric utilities to include the added costs of meeting the state’s obligation to include a certain amount of renewable energy in the power supply from utilities.
The bill also would remove the authority to determine the cost and how much it would add to the average bill to the Department of Energy instead of the Public Utilities Commission.
The proponents of the bill said it would bring greater transparency and allow people to see what costs drive what they are buying.
But opponents of the bill said it would be using misleading information because it would only represent the cost and not the benefits of having renewable energy be included in the supply mix.
They said it also is misleading using average figures which is not what any one residential customer would pay for renewable energy.
They voted down an attempt to concur with the Senate version before non-concurring and killing the bill on a 189-186 vote.
Another bill House Bill 261 was originally about net metering for expanding municipal host projects, but the Senate added a number of other bills dealing with utilities including changing the Site Evaluation Committee’s makeup and authority over citing new large energy projects as well as other issues dealing with the cost of renewable energy.
The House was asked to concur with the changes although others said the bill should be killed because it would upend a number of utility processes from planning for renewable sources to changing the rules and regulations.
While some called it a winner, others said the bad parts outweigh the good ones.
The House voted to non-concur and have a committee of conference by one vote after voting down an attempt to agree with the Senate changes 180-176.
Conference committees will begin work this week and the House and Senate will meet again June 29 to vote on those reports.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com