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The Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee held four public hearings on twenty seven bills, and five executive sessions on fifty two bills.There were also three subcommittees held on three different bills which needed to be fleshed out further before the committee felt they could take action on it in a full executive session. The House held four floor sessions throughout the month. Handling two hundred and thirty two bills in total. One hundred and thirty three of which were on the consent calendar, the other ninety nine being voted on, and deliberated individually. All the business of the House and Senate can be found on their respective calendars, which release weekly on Friday and are available on the website.
Whirlwind is a word I find myself using to the point of overuse. It simply is the best description for the whipping winds of the legislative seas. However, I have found my sea legs and am starting to acclimate to the weather under the dome.
I am blessed to have grown up with my Great Grandmother in my life. She lives on the east coast of Florida with my Grandmother, my Mothers Mom. My Great Grandmother no longer drives, and was kind enough to offer my late Great Grandfather’s car as a replacement for my car which had crashed. I feel so blessed to have such a caring family. I am so thankful for the help I had in getting through January, but getting back into my own wheels at the beginning of this month was a welcome blessing.
Some of the legislation we dealt with on the floor was HB34, Representative Levesque’s bill to raise the age of marriage to eighteen. HB429, providing school breakfast and lunch to all in public in public and chartered public schools. HB626, requiring the department of education to administer the Republican’s new ‘Education Freedom Account’. Dealing with the fact that the program is currently administered by an out of state private company. HB57, raising the state minimum wage. HB95, allowing municipalities to enact rental regulations. These are but some of the many good pieces of legislation proposed by the minority caucus. Working people, who ran for office to serve their neighbors, following through on the promise and serving. It is a beautiful thing to see. The partisanship of the body is becoming clearer as each floor session passes but the good work persists nonetheless. Not every one of these bills passed but they all got a good debate on the floor. The ones that did pass remind us that even in a minority caucus, we can get bills over the finish line when we argue with respect and force. It is worth watching at least some of the House sessions on our YouTube.
The House progressive caucus held it’s leadership elections at the beginning of this month. Well, it was the first of two leadership elections. The progressive caucus is a sub-caucus of the Democratic Party. Representative Alissandra Murray, Amanda Elizabeth Toll, and myself were the first crop of candidates for the three Co-Chair spots of the caucus. We ran unchallenged with a slate of strong progressives in the other slots of the caucus such as Representative Jodi Newell, Heath Howard, Catherine Sofikitas, Robin Vogt, and many other people who ran for office as working people who want the government to address the needs of the average citizen and not just the elite. Unfortunately, that election was declared null and void a few days later. I won’t disclose caucus information as to why but I will say I disagreed with that decision. The caucus held another election with the same slate, but a change to the co-chairs. Representative Cam Kenney joined Representative Murray, and Toll as the co-chairs of the caucus. All three are experienced people who will bring what they can to the caucus. I look forward to seeing what the caucus can do.
The legislation the Criminal Justice and Public safety committee dealt with varied from changes to the bail and parole system, to gun laws within the State, protections for minors online and a whole host of others. That is the regular work of the committee. Some of our hearings generate so much attention from the public that we use the House chamber to hold our hearings. We did this once in January for the ‘cannabis day’ where most of the legislation related to cannabis policy was heard. We did it again this month for the gun legislation proposed to the House. We heard nine of the different gun bills on one day and opened up the hearing at 0900 hours. The committee heard testimony for over eight hours. Powerful testimony from people who had faced the horror of what a gun can do, advocating for stronger regulations on guns. There were also people who came to testify on the other side of the coin to advocate for their right to self defense, emphasizing safe gun usage. It was a heavy day of emotional stories.
We voted on these bills on the 16th of the month. There were ten bills before us that morning. In the days leading up to the vote the Democrats on the committee held their regular caucus. Where all ten of us would gather via zoom to discuss the legislation set for a vote In the coming days. I will not break the trust of the caucus by disclosing the content of a privileged discussion. I can say that it was an intense caucus. Three of us Democrats, found ourselves conflicted by our caucus’s support of some of the so-called gun safety legislation being proposed to the committee by our fellow caucus members. The bills we had conflicts with included HB106, the ‘red-flag’ law, and HB444 which attempted to ban firearms from polling places in the State. These bills had good intentions, but our job is not to vote based on intention. There is a real-life effect to the text of a bill approved by the legislature, and signed into law. It is incumbent on each member to carefully deliberate over the text of a bill to ensure it is one that would do what it set out to do. Not to vote based on the emotion ascribed to a particular bill. I outline my specific reasoning for each bill in the letter found on my website.
The overarching reasoning is that the legislation, while they were proposed with good intentions, do not appropriately protect people’s right - not just to bear arms, but to due process against the law. People have a right to a fair hearing prior to losing their rights. That is a core and fundamental principle to any functioning Republic of citizens. The Democrats, including myself, who voted against these bills did so because they were not sensible gun policy for the citizens of the State of New Hampshire.
On the flip side, the Libertarians of the House proposed a variety of gun legislation which would have loosened our State laws on guns too far. Including HB144, legislation to allow former felons to restore their firearms. This is but one of many bills proposed this session to give people who had been convicted of domestic violence, or other horrific crimes, their weapons back. These bills would put the victims of these people in direct and active harm. Once again, they would have to live in fear of their abuser because the State wasn’t willing to put guardrails on someone who has been convicted of a violent crime. I voted against these bills because they too, clearly, were not sensible gun policy.
There was sensible gun policy proposed such as HB59, proposed by Representative Marjorie Smith of Durham. The bill would have strengthened the background check law in the State. I proudly supported that legislation.
I believe in careful deliberation of the text before the legislature prior to voting. I believe in sensible gun policy across the board. The three of us who had qualms with some of the legislation proposed by our party, brought the concerns we had to the caucus prior to the committee vote in a calm and deliberate way. We left the zoom after a contentious caucus meeting, and all three of us were inundated by calls from lobbyists in support of the bills we had concerns with.
What I am about to disclose isn’t privileged caucus information. It was told to us outside of the caucus, however I am sure that there are those in leadership who won’t be happy I am disclosing this part of the month. One of the three of us had heard from a member of leadership that if we persisted in voting against these bills in committee, that we would be at risk of losing our seats on the committee. It was said more forcefully than that, but I want to be fair to all in relaying this information. We had another caucus the next morning in the committee building, prior to the vote. I will not share the content of the meeting but the two other Democrats on the committee who had trepidations about supporting the bills the rest of the members wanted to advance, walked out of that meeting emotional. We walked into the committee to vote, and they flipped their votes on almost all the legislation which they had valid concerns with just one day before.
I did not.
I was not going to cave to the wishes of leadership over that which I knew to be the right vote. At the very least these bills deserved a subcommittee. Some of them I don’t believe could work in any form. I brought those concerns and was met with fury. The people of the 33rd district in Hillsborough County did not elect me to vote blindly - and I will not vote blindly. Even if that means butting against leadership.
The ranking member of the committee, meaning the leader of the Democrats on the committee, Linda Harriott Gathright; deserves a paragraph of praise for how she handled the entire debacle this month. She heard my concerns on these bills from the very beginning. We had healthy a back and forth throughout the time prior to the vote on all the bills before the committee. She offered careful and deliberate arguments which we were able to discuss respectfully. We had many late night conversations that lasted for hours on the bills, our families, the legislature. It has been an honor to serve under her on this committee. She is someone who did not seek out leadership, but has come into her responsibility with grace and the strength necessary to do the hard work our people need. Representative Gathright fought hard for my right to deliberate with respect on these bills to the full caucus. She stopped the effort to remove me from the committee, protecting my right as a member to vote accordingly. She understands that to have a healthy party, and a healthy committee process, we must be able to vote for and against legislation without losing sight of the fact we are still a team. It is our differences and our ability to deliberate which will make our party, and the legislature great. The more members cave to the whims of leadership, who sometimes cares more about the headline than they do the text of the bill, the more we will have a government that does not work. There were many members of the Democratic caucus who reached out to me, and the other Dems who voted with me on the floor to let us know that they stand for a party where we can flesh out these ideas respectfully - not through threatening removal or isolation. Without Representatives committed to the process such as Representative Gathright, I don’t know where the legislature would be right now.
I make no qualms about voting against legislation from the extremes on both sides, and making all the ideologues unhappy. As soon as you start thinking about the political benefits of voting one way or the other, you lose sight of what you’re there to do; ensure the citizens of the State of New Hampshire that they can trust their government to propose and implement that which is best for the State. Not what is politically convenient to leadership, your party, or you.
So much happens in a month of the legislature that I could write ten thousand words for every week. As I am over two thousand words into this letter, and to keep it from becoming a short story; I will begin to conclude here. I do my best in these monthly periodicals to relay the highlights of my personal time in the legislature. The most important parts of the work I am doing to keep my constituents and those interested, informed. The website was built entirely by me, and that’s why it is a little bare bones. In the moments of free time I’ve been going back and learning the ins and outs of website design to bring a better product to the people. Right now, you can find all the legislation I have sponsored and co-sponsored, where it is in the process, and links to the hearings of the bills. This periodical, and others that I’ve written can also be found there. Soon, there will be a page of videos where you can watch the clips of me on the House floor and see my other speeches. My contact information can also be found there. Email, phone number, and mailing address. I answer all my messages, emails, and return all my calls. I am happy to hear from people whether you have a question about the legislature, our votes, an issue, or anything you may want to talk about.
My line is always open.
