With the tied house, it was difficult to make a lot of progress forward, but we did manage to get several wins under our belts, to include stopping some terrible Democrat gun control bills, a minimum wage bill, and a seatbelt law.

Bills Signed into Law

HB2 (Budget Trailer bill):

• Expedited phase-out of the Interest and Dividends tax, now set to expire by 2025. This tax disproportionately affects the elderly, and its removal makes New Hampshire truly income-tax free.
• State of Emergency Reform. This was originally HB127, but was incorporated in the budget after the Senate killed the bill. I was a co-sponsor on HB127, and fought against Senate Finance to ensure the bill’s text would be included in the budget and thus forced the Governor to sign it into law. It is now impossible for the Governor to declare an indefinite State of Emergency, anything beyond 3 months will require the Legislature to convene to extend it.
• Northern Border Alliance funding. This money is designed to help train our State Police to cooperate with Federal agencies in securing the northern border for illegal immigration. This is a win for conservatives concerned about immigration.
• Federal Checkpoint Alerts. This now requires NH law enforcement to publicly post about Federal checkpoints operating within the state. These have historically caused traffic nightmares for residents and tourists alike, and the Federal Government’s definition of “national border” gives them jurisdiction over almost the entire state. So this provision gives the same courtesy to citizens as we do for DUI checkpoints. This is a win against Federal overreach within the state

HB367 Expands Educational Freedom Account program to include families with combined income of up to 350% of the Federal poverty level. This is a win for education choice.

HB594 Implements universal occupational licensing reciprocity for people looking to work in New Hampshire from neighboring states or new movers joining us. If you have a license from a state that has similar training/requirements to ours, you can just apply to the Office of Professional Licensure with that information and they’ll grant you a New Hampshire license, no additional classes required.

Awaiting Governor’s Signature

HB119 Removes arbitrary annual income cap on uninspected foods for homestead food producers and allows small scale deer farmers to sell on-farm processed meat. This is an expansion of previous Pelham Rep Hershel Nunez’s homesteading food bill from the previous session which raised the income cap! This is a massive win for the farmer’s market!

HB281 Gives greater transparency to electric rate payers as to what percentage of their bill goes towards renewable energy projects. These are green energy subsidies that each of us pay for, and we deserve to know the details. The bill also allows for faster and more efficient site evaluation for new power plants to drive down energy costs. The Democrats kept trying to shove green bills down our throat, and while HB281 does allow for expansion of wind or solar sites, any additional costs rate-payers are subjected to will be transparent. However, speeding along the process for building new energy plants will help with rising costs of power.

Retained In Committee

These bills are held in committee, and can still have meaningful participation from the community to try and pass them.

HB646 Elimination of State inspections for non-commercial vehicles. I am a co-sponsor of this. It is retained by the House Transportation Committee. This issue is frequently complained about, especially by those struggling to make ends meet. Used car markets are also negatively affected by this requirement, as the cost to bring cars up to emissions standards is frequently not worth the purchase of a vehicle. Supply chain shortages also exacerbated this by driving up costs for repairs. Several states do not require inspections, yet the cars are allowed on New Hampshire roads, there’s no reason to continue this, and an inspection sticker is not a year-long shield preventing a car from becoming a hazard, so the fears are unfounded.
HB229 Defend the Guard. I am a co-sponsor, and it is retained by the House State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs committee. The bill will prevent the NH National Guard units from being deployed to overseas combat missions until US Congress formally declares war, pursuant to Art I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution. Congress has abandoned its responsibility, handing the reins over to the President, and this has left us vulnerable here at home. This bill will be receiving another public hearing in September that any person can come and testify, but the date is still in flux. Information will be published by on this site as it approaches. Veterans, or their families, would be great to provide testimony on this.
HB512 Exempting Firearms Manufactured in NH from federal firearm laws. This bill is retained by Jeff Tenczar’s committee House Criminal Justice and Public Safety. This bill would allow manufacturers to stamp firearms and accessories with “Made in New Hampshire” markings, and permit sale/transfer within the state without ATF tax stamps. This challenges interpretations of the Interstate Commerce Clause, and with the current makeup of the Supreme Court, is a good challenge that should be raised.
HB587 This bill allows organ donors to specify they wish their organs to be donated to New Hampshire residents first, before adding them to the regional organ donor availability list. A change in Federal law when Biden took office expanded the radius for regional organ donations, and if you are listed as a donor, your organs will likely be sent to New York City instead of to another Granite Stater. This bill would allow donors to specify they wish to reverse this. The bill is currently retained by House Health and Human Services.

Killed Democrat Bills

HB32 Gun-Free School Zones
HB59 Expanded background checks
HB76 Mandatory Firearm Purchase Waiting Periods
HB78 Repeal of 2nd Amendment Sanctuary State law (Senator Daryl Abbas’s bill from last term)
HB106 Red Flag Laws
HB351 Mandatory Locking Mechanisms
HB444 Firearm prohibition at polling locations
HB57 Minimum Wage
HB222 Seatbelt Law
CACR4 Legislative Pay Increase

I testified against all of these, spending all day before Jeff Tenczar’s Criminal Justice committee to protect your 2nd Amendment rights. Clips and text of the testimony is available here.