Many people find it confusing to keep track of what is going on in the New Hampshire Legislature. This article will tell you how the New Hampshire Legislature works, how to keep track of what is going on in New Hampshire, and how to contact those who represent you both New Hampshire and Federally.
Overview of New Hampshire Legislative Process:
The Legislature is called the General Court in New Hampshire..
Legislators submit proposed bills prior to the Legislative session that begins in January. At this point, they are called Legislative Service Requests (LSR’s). The Office of Legislative Services puts the proposal into a form that shows the actual change in State law and adds any financial impact submitted by state agencies or other affected entities such as towns and cities.
In 2017, there are about 800 proposed bills coming out of the House and 300 coming out of the Senate. 2017 is also the year the state budget is done for the State fiscal years beginning July 1, 2017 and ending June 30, 2019.
Each House bill is assigned to a House Committee and each Senate bill to a Senate Committee. The Committee holds a public hearing where anyone can come to testify on why they support or oppose the proposed bill. This is also when information on the impact of the bill is provided by state agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses, consultants, lobbyists, municipalities and private citizens.
The most important way to have a voice is to attend the hearing, contact the committee or contact your Representative or Senator. If you don’t want to testify- just show up. You can submit a card that says whether or not you support the bill and the card is given to the committee chair. Legislators need to know the public is interested.
When the hearing is done a vote is taken by Committee members at what is called an “Executive Session”. This can be done the same day as the hearing or scheduled for a different day. They vote either “Okay to Pass (OTP)” or oppose the legislation by voting “Inexpedient to Legislate (ITL)”. The bill then goes to the full House or Senate to be voted on. This may be done quickly or spread out over a long period of time.
All bills must be voted on in the chamber where they originated by something called “Crossover Day,” which occurs at the end of March, beginning of April. This is when all of the House bills go to the Senate and all of the Senate bills go to the House. A similar procedure of committee hearings and full House and Senate votes follows.
Legislation that passes both the House and the Senate goes to the Governor for signature. Some bills will go to “Conference Committee” to work out a compromise between the House and Senate.
How to Keep Track of New Hampshire Legislation
The most up to date way of knowing what is going on is through the web site at: gencourt.nh.gov.
Once you get to the site- you can click on four categories of information: General Court news, the House of Representatives Dashboard, the Senate Dashboard, and the State Legislation Dashboard.
This web site is very easy to use and will give you:
Access to the weekly Calendars and Journals for both the House and Senate. These are published each Thursday evening or Friday morning and tell you what bills are coming up for committee hearings, executive session and provides various notes from House and Senate leaders;
The text of proposed legislation and where the bill is in the legislative process;
Information on all legislators and how to contact them;
Description of each legislative committee, who is a member, and how to contact the individual members or the entire committee;
Voting records.
State Contact Information for Andover, Danbury and Salisbury- Call or write your local representatives.
Representative – House District 1 Rep. (Andover, Danbury and Salisbury)
Anne Copp – 271-3125
Environment and Agriculture
Committee Function:
It shall be the duty of the Committee on Environment and Agriculture to consider all matters concerning agricultural and farm problems of the state, physical land use including current use, the various agricultural organizations, the protection of the state’s environment from forms of pollution other than air or water pollution, waste management issues, and such other matters as may be referred to it.
Representative – House District 25 Rep. (Andover, Danbury, Salisbury, Webster, Warner)
Natalie Wells – 271-3319
Natalie.Wells@nullleg.state.nh.us
Election Law
Committee Function:
It shall be the duty of the Committee on Election Law to consider all matters relating to the election laws of the state, including campaign finance, the Ballot Law Commission, redistricting, and such other matters as may be referred to it.
Senate District 2 -Danbury – Bob Giuda, 271-2111, Bob.Giuda@nullleg.state.nh.us
Senate District 7- Andover and Salisbury – Harold French, 271-4046, Harold.French@nullleglstate.nh.us
Executive Councilor District 1 – Andover and Danbury – Joe Kenney
Executive Council Office: (603) 271-3632
Home Office: (603) 473-2569, Joseph.Kenny@New Hampshire.gov
Executive Councilor, District 2 Salisbury – Andru Volinsky
Executive Council Office: (603) 271-3632
Home Office: (603) 491-0376, Andru.Volinsky@New Hampshire.gov
Federal Contact Information – Call or write your members of Congress- The websites will give you good information on where they stand on issues, local offices and how to receive newsletters.
Senate: Senator Jeanne Shaheen, 505 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202-224-2841, shaheen.senate.gov
Senator Maggie Hassan, B85 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202-224-3324, hassan.senate.gov
Representative Ann Kuster, 137 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, 202-225-5206, kuster.house.gov
Representative Carol Shea-Porter, 1530 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC. 2051, 202-225-5456, info@nullshea-porter.com