Happy Fourth of July. Hope to see you during the day’s festivities with a great parade at Andover’s Fourth of July celebration. The Merrimack County Republican Committee will have a booth.

The New Hampshire House held its last session until fall on June 13. At this session we voted on the Committee of Conference reports. Then our acceptance of the Co of C reports will go back to the Senate for acceptance. 

Those Co of C reports, if accepted by the Senate, will then go on to the Governor either for signing, allowing the bill to become law without signature, or vetoing the bill. In the fall we will meet again to take up the bills the Governor has vetoed. Most Legislatures are off for July and August. 

We also learned that approximately one-third of the House members will not be running again for their seat in the Legislature. For anyone interested, there are informative websites like “How a Bill Becomes Law in New Hampshire”: nh.gov/almanac/bills.htm, or the NH General Court website: gencourt.state.nh.us/ both of which offer a wealth of information.

One of the bills that I voted against on June 13 was HB 1215 which, when introduced, was an act relative to subdivision regulations on the completion of improvements and the regulation of building permits, but then the Senate added a non-germane amendment: an ACT relative to development approvals and appeals, and allowing the town of Hampton to discontinue a particular highway in order to lease that property. 

If the House had passed this bill it would have allowed the town of Hampton to discontinue a portion of a road and would have bypassed the citizens of Hampton. The vote was 102 yea and 251 nay, and the Committee of Conference report was defeated. I voted nay as this issue belonged in Hampton with the Hampton voters. We cannot take away the right of local control. 

I hope each of you have a great summer. If I can be of help please contact me: Representative Louise Andrus, 406 Raccoon Hill Road, Salisbury NH 03268, 603 648-2510 or l.a.andrus21@nullgmail.com.