Congratulations to all graduates of 2022. The future is yours. Don’t ever let anyone steal your dreams.
Happy Fourth of July. It is exciting that Andover will be holding the celebration again this year. I have missed it and look forward to the people and the parade.
Redistricting: The House and Senate passed HB 50, apportioning state representative districts. This bill was then signed by the Governor. The current representative districts (before redistricting) consist of: one House Rep, Louise Andrus, District 1 (Andover, Danbury, Salisbury); one House Rep, Natalie Wells, District 25 (Andover, Danbury, Salisbury, Webster, Warner); and one House Rep, Anne Kennedy, District 7 (Webster, Warner).
Redistricting creates the following changes: two House Reps for District 5 (Andover, Danbury, Hill, Salisbury Webster); one House Rep for District 26 (Andover, Boscawen, Canterbury, Danbury, Hill, Loudon, Salisbury, Webster).
I voted against the redistricting HB 50 but, since it has become law, instead of whining about it I will be working to come up with answers when questions are asked. I believe we all should work together to make it work.
Even with the current districts, the citizens did not know all of the candidates. There are newspapers, the internet, mail, knocking on doors, others working with a candidate. I believe we really have many options for people to get to know us.
My main concern is that all towns in New Hampshire that have had changes in the redistricting process make sure the citizens know of the changes in the district. If one looks at the old districts and the new districts, it is really pretty simple by using common sense.
I want to thank all of the citizens that have submitted opinion letters in the Beacon. I welcome the differences of opinions. We could all argue constantly the pros and cons of abortion, and no matter what side a person is on I believe more debate is not going to change anyone’s.
I do have a question with regards to one of the opinion letters. This is something I believe is not discussed. At what point in a pregnancy is a fetus a live human being and having an abortion is an act of causing the death of a human?
In the House Session of May 26 there were many bills that we voted on, and one in particular was HB 1661. Originally HB 1661 FN was a bill “relative to regional career technical education agreements.” It passed the House and was sent to House Finance.
The bill came back to the House with an amendment “relative to regional career technical education agreements and an addition to the bill relative to an appropriation for constructing a legislative parking garage.” I spoke against this amendment and voted no on it, but it passed 271 to 65.
The bill then went to the Senate. In the Senate omnibus amendments were added to the original bill and passed. The bill came back to the House and the House members voted to send it to a Committee of Conference (CoC). Once HB 1661 was returned to the House on May 26, the CoC recommendation was to Concur and passed on a vote of 244 to 99. I voted nay on this bill.
HB 1661 as amended was “relative to regional career technical education agreements, an appropriation for preliminary work for a new legislative parking garage, health and human services, establishing an extraordinary need grant for schools, training and procedures for zoning and planning boards, and financial investments and incentives for affordable housing development.” Please go to the New Hampshire General Court website and read the bill in its entirety.
It is my opinion that the total content in HB 1661 does not meet the standard placed in the New Hampshire Constitution, Part 2, Article 5, as being “wholesome and reasonable.” And it is my opinion these omnibus bills should be banned.
Everyone have a great July. Enjoy the beauty of mother nature. It’s amazing. We have a family of ravens each year, and currently the parents are teaching the three children how to live outside the nest. It’s beautiful.