Also on today’s menu:
Narrowing Voter Rights
Recreational Marijuana
Expanding Meeting Access
The New Hampshire Senate has recommended the passage of an amended Senate Bill 344, which would allow municipalities to continue and expand upon remote meetings. In a 13-11 vote, the Senate supported the bill to provide guidelines for remote access, including reducing the physical presence quorum requirement.
Co-sponsor Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D-Portsmouth) said, “We have seen time and again how access to remote meetings significantly increases participation in local government. As amended, SB 344 carefully threads the needle between allowing for remote access while also promoting the in-person dialogue and debate that sits at the heart of our democratic process.”
Belmont Republican Mike Silvia has opposed remote access in House discussions, saying it would allow public officials to text each other under their desks, in potential violation of the state’s Right-To-Know law.
Narrowing Voter Rights
The state Senate has passed Senate Bill 418, which would require a different-colored ballot for those who wish to vote but are not on the checklist or who do not have identification with photo and domicile listed in the municipality where the polls are located. The voter would have 10 days to mail in the missing documentation to the Secretary of State to avoid having the vote removed from the election tally.
Senator Bob Giuda (R-Warren) said the bill “protects the rights of legitimate voters, and we should violate the rights of those who vote illegitimately.” Democrats said the bill disenfranchises members of the Armed Services serving overseas, runs afoul of the Constitution, and effectively adopts provisional ballot voting in New Hampshire, which adds a further threat to the state’s First-in-the-Nation Primary.
The bill now moves on to the House for action.
Recreational Marijuana
The House has approved a bill legalizing the sale of recreational cannabis through a state retail monopoly similar to the state’s liquor business. The bill now goes before the Senate, which in the past has not approved any marijuana legalization bill.
House Bill 1598 passed the House by a wide margin several weeks ago, but ran into opposition before the House Ways and Means Committee which questioned its financial assumptions.
Several amendments were proposed to address that and other concerns, and Representative Timothy Lang (R-Sanbornton) called the proposal “a win across the board for all citizens of New Hampshire,” saying, “This has been thoroughly vetted, has bipartisan support, and we can always come back and make it better.”
The bill was approved, 169-156.
Please Support Our Efforts
The News Café is a virtual meeting place where we discuss the news of the day: local, statewide, national, and international.
An offering by the Liberty Independent Media Project, the News Café does not rely on advertising, as most media outlets do, freeing us to provide an independent focus on events and cultural issues. The project instead relies on direct monetary support from donors and subscribers, as well as providing news to other media outlets.
If you like what we’re doing, and want to see more local news you will not find elsewhere, please give what you can.
Subscriptions to this newsletter are available for as little as $5 per month. Subscribers can share their knowledge, thoughts, and questions about any topic, and we may select some of those subjects for more in-depth analysis.
If you’re unable to pay but still want to receive all of the free public posts in your in-box, click the Subscribe button and select a free subscription.
Gain more control over how you feed your mind: You can now read News Café in the new Substack app for iPhone. With the app, you’ll have a dedicated Inbox for this Substack and any others you subscribe to. New posts will never get lost in your email filters, or get stuck in spam. Longer posts will never be cut off by your email app. Comments and rich media will work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a big upgrade to the reading experience.
The Substack app is currently available for iOS. Get the app
If you don’t have an Apple device, you can join the Android waitlist here.