'Surgical Adjustment' To Bail Reform
Jail First For Violent Criminals, Then Appearance Before Judge
Also on today’s menu:
Police Culture Needs Reform
New Hampshire’s Sleight Of Hand
Amending Education Freedom Accounts
Buzz Scherr, a law professor who was elected police commissioner in Portsmouth, testified against Senate Bill 248 when it went before the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 1, saying that the proposed legislation that would have those accused of violent crimes appear before a judge rather than go to a bail commissioner would make jail automatic, and it could be up to four days before the accused person sees a judge. If the bill is passes, “we will be over-incarcerating people,” he said. The bill would be expensive for the state and bog down the court system. “The problem is not the statute. The problem is the administration of the statute,” he said.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Daryl Abbas (R-Salem), was filed to address some of the consequences of the 2018 bail reform law, intended to help those who cannot afford cash bail. Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig said bail reform has had a negative impact on her city, citing the murder of Daniel Whitmore, 75, last September. She said the perpetrator had been arrested in Nashua just days before Whitmore’s death, for violating his previous bail terms, but he was transported from Nashua to Hillsborough County House of Corrections in Manchester and again released on personal recognizance. “This tragic outcome could likely have been prevented with changes to our bail system,” Craig said.
Bedford Police Chief John Bryfonski, speaking on behalf of the New Hampshire Chiefs of Police Association, supported “minor, surgical, common-sense change” and that SB 248 would impact only a small number of cases, so would not overload the judiciary.
Police Culture Needs Reform
Amidst calls to “defund the police” is a realization that there is a police culture that can lead officers to believe they are immune from consequences when they use lethal force. In his February 1 column, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says, “No one disputes that sometimes lethal force is necessary. But there is an us-vs-them mentality in America — and therefore in many of its institutions (i.e. military, police, and judicial) that allows injustice to flourish. The demand for loyalty regardless of right and wrong, or even legal and illegal, causes us to hide our shameful acts behind the bluster of patriotism. “My country, right or wrong!” many conservatives proclaim without realizing …. The full quotation by Republican Sen. Carl Schurz is, “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” That’s an important difference.”
He cites research showing that police killings are under-reported and said they “reveal the public’s own love-fear relationship with the police. White people support the police because they genuinely understand the risks cops take to defend the community. But they also hope that vocal support shields them from becoming a target of the police. Black people don’t often have the same option: studies confirm that they are a target of police no matter their age, education level, or income.”
He concludes, “As with the epidemic of mass shootings, there is no quick fix. The Memphis PD acted quickly and decisively in firing and charging the officers. Georgia has acted with less transparency. The two victims are both just as dead. … It’s up to everyone else to demand the reform we need as quickly as we can so we can prevent more deaths of unarmed Black people who, as Tyre Nichols told the cops, are “just trying to go home.”
New Hampshire’s Sleight Of Hand
Granite State Matters reports, “Last week, in NH House Ways & Means, a representative testified that NH recovered from recession faster than other states. What he didn’t mention was why it recovered. Because the legislature retained $1 billion in funding over the past decade that should have gone to towns.”
The article was referring to the state’s decision several years ago to consolidate pension systems for better pricing. Officials convinced municipalities to bring educators and municipal workers into the state’s pension system by promising 40% cost sharing. After a few years, legislators reduced that match to 35%. Then came the 2011 recession, and the state cut out the 35% share entirely, leaving property taxpayers to picked up the full cost.
“Since then, the state claims it not only recovered. It has done so well, the governor and colleagues want to cut taxes even more. The Department of Revenue claims NH has over $400 million in excess revenues. Actually, that is $600 million less than what it should have been paying towns over the last decade, not including interest,” the article states.
Amending Education Freedom Accounts
The House Education Committee split 10-10 along party lines on House Bill 430, which would require most students wishing to enroll in Education Freedom Accounts to attend a public school for one year before applying to the program, and House Bill 367, which would raise income eligibility to 500 percent of the federal poverty level from the current cap of 300 percent.
About 75 percent of the program costs are private and religious schools tuition subsidies for students enrolled in those schools and homeschool programs before the EFA program began last fiscal year. Representative David Luneau (D-Hopkinton), sponsor of HB 430, said it would return the program to its original intent of allowing lower-income families to find the best educational fit for their child outside of public and charter schools. “The program turned into free tuition paid for by public taxpayers for those already in private schools,” Luneau said. “If the commissioner had actually said this program is for students largely in private schools or going to attend private schools anyway, this program would not have gotten any attraction at all.”
Representative Alicia Lekas (R-Hudson), sponsor of HB 367, said her bill, which would raise the income cap from 300 percent to 500 percent of the federal property level, would help the middle class, which makes too much money to receive scholarships and not enough money to provide the best educational options for their children. An amendment to raise the cap to 350 percent passed on a 11-9 vote, but the motion to pass the bill as amended failed on a 10-10 vote.
Café Chatter
On Strong-Arm Tactics: It’s all about the party.
— Myrl Phelps
Support Our Efforts
Do you have a story to tell?
The News Café is a virtual meeting place where, each weekday, we discuss the news of the day: local, statewide, national, and international. Mondays are reserved for more personal observations which only paid subscribers will receive, while Tuesday through Friday will draw from news stories published by various sources.
The News Café relies on subscriptions, rather than on advertising and grants, for its support. That frees us to provide an independent focus on events and cultural issues without having to weigh whether it would upset advertisers or fit into grant guidelines. Our only obligation is to provide information we believe is useful to our readers.
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.
Download the app to view or hear an audio version of the posts, and to join in a group chat.
Visit us at www.libertymedianh.org