halfway there

With Crossover Day behind us, the N.H. Legislature has completed its first round of work on the roughly 1,000 bills introduced this year. Those that passed their original chamber (the House or Senate) have now been assigned to committees in the other chamber. In coming weeks, they’ll be scheduled for a second round of public hearings, committee recommendations and full chamber votes. 

Whatever survives will then go to Gov. John Lynch’s office for a signature, a veto, or to become law without signature.

abortion

One set of laws that won’t land on the governor’s desk deal with changes to current abortion laws. It’s familiar territory for Lynch, who in 2007 signed a law reversing the parental notification requirement for abortions performed on minors. The requirement had been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006. 

But two bills this year (HB 274 and HB 531) would have reinstated parental notification, and another (HB 62) would have required that girls under 15 provide proof of counseling before having an abortion.

The three bills are intended to protect parental rights, along with the belief that parents are first and foremost in the position to advocate for the safety, health and best interest of minor girls.

But all three were struck down by the House. Concerns about confidentiality, lack of necessity due to the reported rarity of minors obtaining abortions, and current standards of counseling were some of the reasons given.

HB 486 would have prevented the Department of Health and Human Services from doing business with any organization that provides abortions, including Planned Parenthood.  This bill was also deemed inexpedient to legislate, on the basis that it would undermine public health by ultimately denying services to poor and uninsured men and women throughout the state. 

health insurance

Insurance is a hot topic this session, at both state and national levels. Take the National Health Care Act in the U.S. Congress, for example. This federal bill would provide free services for all medical necessities to every American—no copays, no deductibles. House Concurrent Resolution 2, which passed the N.H. House, is an official endorsement of the federal act. 

But as long as individuals do have to purchase their own insurance, some changes may be prescribed. House Bill 678, setting a limit to insurance companies’ profit margins, was retained in the House Commerce & Consumer Affairs Committee for further study.

“I think the industry has some concerns, which I understand,” says the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Susi Nord (D-Candia). And as a new regulation, she says, “they were all opposed to doing it, or at least doing anything immediately.” 

Also retained by the same committee was a plan called Cover New Hampshire. HB 434 would essentially allow people to purchase insurance for a limited set of healthcare needs. This would, in a way, remove the mandate for a host of procedures that currently must be covered, such as bariatric surgery or certain coverage for dependents. The plan would only be available to people who cannot currently afford insurance. The House voted down a similar bill (HB 109) that would have allowed insurance companies to sell à la carte policies to anyone.
What won’t change is the use of credit reports and education levels to determine the cost of insurance premiums. House Bills 75 and 101, respectively, would have forbade such use of information, but both failed their House votes. 

public records

Finally, a bit of paperwork. From now on, only paper documents—including letters submitted for public testimony—will be included in a bill’s permanent, public records.  In order for an e-mail to be included, it would have to be printed and submitted to the committee chair, vice-chair or clerk. 

This change to House Rule 109(a) was proposed by the Rules Committee and passed the House by more than a two-thirds majority, according to Speaker of the House Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth), chair of the Rules Committee. It pretty much mirrors the process in the Senate, whereby only correspondence submitted formally at a public hearing becomes part of the bill’s transcripts and permanent record in that chamber. Committee members can still consider e-mails, but only paper submissions will enter the permanent record.

Norelli says that what prompted the rule change was a desire for “uniformity among committees as to what constitutes the public record. … In today’s Internet-based communications,” she explains, “a legislator may receive literally hundreds of the same e-mail from both constituents and non-constituents—and all legislators may receive the same e-mails.”

In addition to printed correspondence, a bill’s public record in the House consists of minutes from all committee and subcommittee meetings, a copy of the bill’s original form and any proposed amendments, the current status of the bill, and any notes about how it may impact a state agency’s finances.

voting records

All 2009 bills—their original text, amendments and dockets—and the voting records of all legislators are accessible on the N.H. General Court’s Web site, www.gencourt.state.nh.us. Contact information for legislators is also available there, as well as a list of bills sponsored by each representative and calendars of upcoming hearings. 

Front Door Politics is a weekly legislative update for everyone affected by New Hampshire laws. An online learning center, additional reporting, and a blog subscription are available at www.frontdoorpolitics.com.