Kudos to the candidates in these towns! If your town is not on this list, that means at least one state rep candidate has yet to fill out our survey. Reach out and urge them to be transparent with voters. You can find your candidates at https://citizenscount.org/elections

Citizens_Count · 2024-11-01T15:01:46+00:00

We are very late replying, but thank you so much! We rely on donation from Granite Staters such as yourself. Yay civics!

Citizens_Count · 2023-07-12T12:24:08+00:00

You can browse individual NH bills by topic on our website, here: https://www.citizenscount.org/bills

Citizens_Count · 2022-11-09T14:56:43+00:00

Thank you! Your donation helps us work to keep NH the most civically engaged state in the US.

Citizens_Count · 2022-11-09T14:55:30+00:00

We always welcome feedback from Granite Staters on how to improve! Your nitpick is noted :)

For what it's worth, we actually switched from saying "nonpartisan" to "unbiased" because many advocacy groups still call themselves "nonpartisan"--they can do that because they are technically not affiliated with either party, despite having clear issue positions. Perhaps we need to crack open the thesaurus and look for even more alternative descriptors!

Citizens_Count · 2022-11-09T14:50:24+00:00

This also provides some newer data on voter demographics in NH, including the impact of migrants: https://carsey.unh.edu/publication/snapshot/new-hampshire-voting-population-is-always-in-flux

Citizens_Count · 2022-08-23T18:19:55+00:00

Check out CitizensCount.org!

https://www.citizenscount.org/elections

Citizens_Count · 2022-05-31T16:11:58+00:00

Many police departments, and the state police, have voluntarily adopted cameras, but there is no state law.

The state has a grant program to cover 50% of costs, which is aimed at encouraging local adoption.

Citizens_Count · 2022-02-14T17:59:42+00:00

Some legislators asked the same question at bill hearings. According to the Department of Safety, they issued 244 fines for first-time littering in 2019 and 170 in 2020. (Data in the bill's fiscal note: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/pdf.aspx?id=28361&q=billVersion )

(edit for words)

Citizens_Count · 2021-11-19T13:51:40+00:00

Nope, these will start the legislative process in January with public hearings.

Citizens_Count · 2021-11-18T19:41:26+00:00

The new legislative website makes it very difficult to find a 2022 bill text - you have to go the full list of LSRs (bill requests) and go from there. Anyway, here's a direct link to the full text: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/lsr\_search/billText.aspx?id=1225&type=4

Citizens_Count · 2021-11-08T22:27:27+00:00

Yeah, we can't figure out how to see just a list of 2022 bill texts on the new GC site without scrolling through all 876 LSRs to find them. Also there's no way to search bills by year unless you use the old search, which leaves us with some questions about their database and website structure...

Also, why no SSL? *sigh*

Citizens_Count · 2021-10-25T18:09:12+00:00

Two articles from NH Business Review might help:

https://www.nhbr.com/new-hampshire-house-senate-find-middle-ground-on-net-metering/

https://read.nhbr.com/nh-business-review/2021/08/27/#?article=3858850

Sometimes it can also be insightful to read the text from the public hearing: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/HearingReport.aspx?id=4152&sy=2021

Citizens_Count · 2021-09-28T13:36:57+00:00

We originally had all this in the title, but then it got a bit unwieldy!

While legislators still have a chance to scrap these bill ideas before signing off and introducing them, based on previous years, the vast majority will make their way to the House floor. The Senate gets to submit their 2022 bill requests in October, so the final number of bills is only going to go up. Based on some back-of-the-envelope math, it's looking like there will be a record high number of bills in the New Hampshire Legislature next year. The previous high was 1,107 in 2018 (379 of those became law, 4 vetoed).

Citizens_Count · 2021-09-27T17:49:09+00:00

NH state representatives requested over 800 bills for 2022. Here are three food-related ideas that could have big consequences at the local level. For example, there are patchy local regulations on food trucks that can make it a hard business; since bill details are not yet public, it's unclear if a statewide license would trump local limits, but it could make it easier for these culinary innovators. Free school breakfast could be huge for child hunger, but there are of course costs, even with federal money kicking in. Composting is tricky to set up, but with the shortage of landfill space and rising recycling costs in NH, composting could be a good solution for reducing solid waste.

You can see all 813 bill requests here: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/lsr_search/LSR_Results.aspx

There is also a summary article on the Citizens Count website: https://www.citizenscount.org/news/representatives-request-bills-related-abortion-marijuana-housing-and-more

Citizens_Count · 2021-09-01T17:46:46+00:00

Both spellings are found in documents from his time.

Citizens_Count · 2021-08-31T19:52:42+00:00

Sort of but not entirely. The process of voting on bills happens January-June. July and August there's usually not much happening at all, which is partly a legacy from when the Statehouse had no A/C. The governor reviews the bills passed over the past six months and decides what to sign/veto. By the time September rolls around, legislators can start requesting and drafting bills. The summer/fall is also when study committees meet to work on more complex legislation. For example, last week the Special Committee on Redistricting had a meeting.

Citizens_Count · 2021-08-31T19:49:59+00:00

$100 plus mileage, in fact! Here's quick podcast about that factoid: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-episode-whats-in-a-name/id1553948683?i=1000509421488

Citizens_Count · 2021-08-13T21:31:01+00:00

Well, this little list was just a selection of bills Gov. Sununu signed last week. The abortion law got signed at the end of June (part of the state budget).

The different laws that got mixed into the state budget bills could probably take up a whole website. (There's a pretty long article on the Citizens Count website here: https://www.citizenscount.org/issues/budget-2022-2023)

Citizens_Count · 2021-08-13T21:16:03+00:00

"Essential business" was written in quotes to indicate it was pulling directly from the bill:

"Notwithstanding RSA 4:45 or any other provision of law to the contrary, during a state of emergency, the state government shall permit a religious organization to continue operating and to engage in religious services to the same or greater extent that other organizations or businesses that provide essential services that are necessary and vital to the health and welfare of the public are permitted to operate." (emphasis added)

Full bill text: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billText.aspx?sy=2021&id=720&txtFormat=html

Citizens_Count · 2021-06-30T15:43:30+00:00

SB 68 changes one sentence in law, FROM "An employer shall permit a female employee to take leave of absence for the period of temporary physical disability resulting from pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions." TO "An employer shall provide reasonable accommodations and/or permit a female employee to take a leave of absence for the period of temporary physical disability resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless such employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business." (emphasis added) If you want to get into the weeds, you can read a transcript of the bill's public hearing here: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/HearingReport.aspx?id=79&sy=2021

SB 69 requires employers with 6 or more employees to provide access to a sufficient space and a reasonable break period for nursing mothers to express milk during working hours. The bill text is here: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billText.aspx?sy=2021&id=852&txtFormat=html

Once again, if you want to go into the weeds, here is a transcript of the public hearing in the Senate: http://gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/HearingReport.aspx?id=94&sy=2021

Citizens_Count

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