By ZACH LAIRD, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — After two days of discussion, the House and Senate reached an agreement on Thursday during a Committee of Conference meeting over a bill that would strengthen state control over regulations on firearms and self-defense tools, and curb limits put in place by both local governments and state agencies.
House Bill (HB) 609 provides that the state has authority and jurisdiction over the regulation of firearms, stun guns, tasers, pepper spray devices, knives, and other self-defense tools, to the extent consistent with federal law, and exclusive authority and jurisdiction to make laws and delegate authority to adopt rules regarding the same by state employees or on state property.
The bill also states that no rule, regulation, or policy adopted or instituted by an executive branch agency regarding the sale, purchase, ownership, use, possession, transportation, licensing, permitting or other matters relating to firearms, firearm component, ammunition firearms supplies, stun guns, tasers, pepper spray devices, knives, or other self-defense tools, by state employees or on state property shall continue or remain in effect after July 1, 2029, unless renewed or re-adopted.
“We’re really close on this, actually… We feel like the Senate’s suggestion with regard to the rules is reasonable. We just think we need a little time to see if we can massage that, and come up with language that would be agreeable to both of us,” Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield said on the first day of negotiations.
The two parties ended up taking a recess until 10 a.m. Thursday before discussions on the bill could continue. On Thursday, Roy began the meeting by explaining that negotiations paused because the House and the Senate were “trying to find some language that we thought would be a good compromise for both parties.”
“My understanding is that we’re all trying to work toward a solution that protects everybody’s rights, and we are working toward that finalized language. We have two different drafts that we need to compare, see where the differences are… One of the things it (the amendment) does is that it trims this list. We were adding stun guns, tasers, pepper-spray devices, and other self-defense tools,” Rep. Erica Layon, R-Derry said.
Layon continued, saying another change to the language gives more details and clarity about what happens with political subdivisions within the state. She said what this does is declares the General Court’s supremacy over the regulation of these tools, “basically saying that being a Dillon Rule-state, anything needs to come through the legislature before these choices to limit peoples’ rights happens at the local level.”
The Dillon Rule is a legal principle which states that local governments (towns, cities, and counties only have powers granted to them by the state legislature, according to the New Hampshire Municipal Association.
“It leans the law to allow all the current protections for elected officials that we already have in statute, but it ensures that if somebody is willfully not complying with this — willfully and knowingly pushing ahead with something that they absolutely know is against state law — that there is recourse for that,” Layon said.
Another change to the language clarifies the role of the legislature in the oversight of state agency rules, regulations, and policies, she said.
She added, “Right now, if a particular department says that their drivers, when they’re out dealing with volatile people cannot carry a personal defense tool — even when they’re miles away from anybody else — if they’re disarming people when they may be in a vulnerable situation, they won’t be able to do that without getting statutory authority.
“It would sort of pop the bubble on the exemptions for the internal policies when they relate to firearms for state employees, so that we can ensure there’s transparency, and we can also make sure that anything that needs to happen is moved into statute before the effective date.”
When asked to clarify her comments regarding drivers and state employees, Layon referenced plow drivers and how they can sometimes run into “volatile people.”
After another short break, Roy said, “The parties have met, and I think that we’re at a position where we have an agreement in principle. We’re working from the latest amendment given to us by Sen. (Timothy) Lang, (R-Sanbornton).”
Layon went through the latest changes, and noted she included an introductory paragraph for section 3 of the bill’s language to state the legislative intent behind it, which “restates a lot of it, but this is relative to political subdivisions… It’s just clear that we’re setting these terms, and under those terms what limitations exist.”
She read from Sen. Lang’s version of the bill which originally said that: “‘No person, public official, public employee, political subdivision, or any other public or quasi-public entity shall…’ I was concerned about the ‘person,’ and then having ‘public official,’ or ‘public employee,’ without stating that it’s in their official capacity. What we’re looking to do is restrict state actions, not restrict the actions of individuals, or those who are public officials or public employees in their personal capacity.”
“When you start using the language ‘official capacity,’ I think we open a lot of other doors that’s part of a much larger conversation,” Sen. Daryl Abbas, R-Salem said. It was ultimately decided to strike the word ‘person’ from the language of the bill.
Roy said, “ I would just say that if we all agree and have a yes vote here, for the record, that the legislative intent of this is that state employees have no less rights than other citizens have for the right to self-protection under the New Hampshire (and) United States constitution.”
Lang quickly summarized the changes: “Again, we’re going to strike the word ‘person,’ on page one (so) it says, ‘No public official…’ And then, we’re going to add on page two line 24, we’re going to add in that phrase, ‘does not withstand any exemptions from rulemaking in RSA 541-A:1-1 XV, and RSA 541-A:21.”
The House and Senate then voted to adopt the changes to the bill.