State lawmakers kick off the new legislative session tomorrow. They'll take up about a thousand bills -- that's down about twenty percent from last year. But it's still enough to keep the state house busy.
The Perennial issues are back again……To hear house speaker Doug Scamman tell it, three familiar topics will dominate the year's action..
"My number one and two issues when I ran were education funding and the budget. Certainly the insurance issue needs to be addressed, and we need to pug the holes created when senate bill 110 was passed. And I will uphold what ever the house puts forth."
An unscientific sampling of house and senate members backed up Scamman's gloss on the biggest issues……That same survey found agreement that the next tier of issues, include the future of NH's medicaid program……the possibility of expanded gambling…….. malpractice reform……..and legislative ethics….Go any deeper, however, and priorities become murkier……..and more parochial. For Democrat William Knowles, a personal focus will be his proposal to shift the onus for teenage seat belt use from the car's driver, to the passenger. Knowles said he drafted bill at the behest of a students at Dover's St. Thomas Aquinas High School.
"They felt that a lot of the 16 and 17 year olds who have driver's licenses should not be responsible for their peers buckling up. So they thought why not make the 16 and 17 year olds responsible and hopefully that will carry through when they reach 18 they'll be in the habit of buckling up themselves……Sounded like a good idea to me….."
Another lawmaker with one eye cocked towards the state's roadways is Deputy House Speaker Ken Weyler……He's sponsor of a bill that would force drivers to buy auto-insurance. New Hampshire is one of only two states that don’t mandate it. Weyler says he's undaunted by the fact that the insurance industry has fought such bills whenever they've been proposed.
"I believe it is worth a serious look. If it is the majority of us it turns out have care insurance and are behaving responsibility and those that do not are more likely to behave irresponsibly than we must be protected from the irresponsible and everybody should have car insurance."
One thing too many people do already have are computer problems caused by spyware…..
"Spyware is something where it seems to be a buyer beware situation."
That's Loudon republican Roy Maxfield. He's author of a proposal to combat the proliferation of spyware and computer viruses it can cause..
"This seems something that states are beginning to address so the quick answer to why I'm offering the legislation is that other states are stepping up to the problem in lieu of the feds doing anything to solve it."
Maxfield says about ten states either have measures on the books or are considering enacting them to deal with spyware……His bill is modeled after a Utah law that's been challenged…..on the basis that it restricts commerce.
The state criminal code is getting attention on another front in a bill co-sponsored by state senator Robert Boyce. The Alton republican believes the principle of equal protection should dictate a repeal NH's hate crime statute.
"You know if the crime has extenuating circumstances such as what they did……such as they used a weapon or displayed a weapon…….there's differences there, there fine. But to make it different just because of who the person was -- that makes no sense to me."
Boyce adds that he'd similarly favor changing the state's death penalty provision -- to make it potentially applicable in all murders but did not chose to file any legislation.
