NH State Representative Steven Smith

West to East campaigning today.  At Langdon’s Fall Festival, we got see a solar powered race car, cheer-leading demonstrations, bought some locally made bread, ate great food in support of Langdon Fire and rescue, and learned more about Langdon’s history via the great exhibits inside the Meeting House.  In the evening, we ate at the Washington Congregational Church’s Harvest Supper.  Supporting local causes can be fun, and delicious.  Stopped on the way back to talk with some Lempster voters.  I’ll be back out in Washington tomorrow.

Steve

Last week, I filed a bill currently listed as:
2015-H-0037-R    title:    relative to removable walking disability placards.

This bill will allow expectant mothers in their last trimester to have their doctor fill out this form:

Click to access rdmv130.pdf

A section will be added after 2. V. which will read something like:

“VI. Is an expectant mother in her last trimester, or up to one month post-delivery.”

The form already exists, the placard already exists, so it will cost nothing to implement.  This idea comes from Steve Smith (not me) of Goshen based on his and his wife’s experience with their last child.  If a woman is close to going into labor, but is still out taking care of family business, running errands, shopping, going to her doctor, etc.   doesn’t it make sense to let her park close to the door?

Filing the bill is easy.  Passing it can be harder than you think.  If you support this idea, please email me at nhfirst@gmail.com.  I need to demonstrate public support when this goes to its hearing next year.  If you are not in my district, contact your Representative.  Please help me get this done.

Steve

Today, we had the unusual situation of Democrat Speaker Norelli calling a veto session to attempt an override of three bills vetoed by Democrat Governor Hassan. None of them succeeded. To over ride a veto, 2/3 of those present and voting must agree to make the bill law despite the Governor’s veto.

HB591- relative to an abusive work environment and the health and safety of public employees.

This bill arose from extreme morale issues in several State of NH departments.  The Chairman of the Labor Committee, Democrat Andrew White said that the bill was necessary due to the failure of the Executive Branch (Governor Hassan) to act by establishing policies on workplace bullying.  This bill initially passed the House unanimously (yes, I voted for it).  Changes made by the Senate, including exempting some state agencies, made the bill unworkable for many of us.  Our laws should apply to all groups equally.  That, coupled with general agreement with Rep. White’s statement that this an area rightfully handled by the Governor, and that she should be the one to correct her administrative failure, made the over ride attempt unsuccessful. I have pledged publicly to support a bill like this next session if Governor Hassan remains in office and continues to do nothing about workplace bullying in state agencies.  The bipartisan vote was 141-154.

HB685 – relative to state agency communications.

In a nutshell, this bill addressed severe transparency issues at some state agencies.  Both the House and Senate had subcommittees, committees of conference, and did a lot of work to get this bill right and pass it from both chambers.  The over ride failed by a handful of votes.  This is particularly disappointing since both parties seemed to agree again that the Executive Branch needs to work harder on this.  The bi-partisan vote was 190-113

HB1244 – relative to the disclosure of the names of lottery winners.

This was not political.  The question is, if you win the lottery, should you be able to keep that information private.  Some of us believed that you should, others did not.  The bi-partisan vote was 160-142.