Another week, another opportunity to get emails from disgruntled Reps who missed one vote. That seems to be the cycle. The folks who’ve been diligent get miffed, while the gross offenders could care less. That’s fine; this is, after all, to alert the people that a handful consistently refuse to represent.

A quick note from the data guy: Rep. Soti was present but declared an ethical conflict and did not vote three times. As you can see, several Reps had excellent records until today. It must have been something serious that kept them away. Several Reps were there all day until near the end, so I assume they had to leave for work or something else important.

Here’s the attendance record for this week (on the left) and the total roll call votes missed all year on the right.

Have compassion for your citizen legislators who have to leave for jobs or other responsibilities when the session runs long (as it has these past few weeks), but know that both sides (majority and minority) must play the game of chess to effect the best possible outcomes.

If you’d like a round-up of yesterday’s House business, we published one this morning.

The post NH House Republican Attendance for the Week of 3-28-2024 appeared first on Granite Grok.

We learned that it took from 9am until 7pm, with an hour or so break for lunch, to get through 43 bills on the regular calendar, 2 off the consent calendar, plus 3 that were taken off the table, and 1 more that was reconsidered. It was a long day and I’ll try to review some highlights.

We learned that today was Table Day! Many bills were either put on the Table, attempted to be Tabled, or Taken off the Table today. Tabling was the motion to do if you wanted something dead after today because, after today, you will no longer be able to remove bills from the table with just a simple majority. Tabling a bill today also killed a bill without going through all the speeches and Parliamentary Inquiries (PIs) – so it saved some time.

We learned that the House was in a forgiving mood as we passed HB1366, with a Roll Call vote of 283-80. This bill annuls criminal convictions, which resulted in a misdemeanor, for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Having a misdemeanor removes some economic barriers for these folks who committed crimes of possession, and the House just thinks it’s time we let bygones be bygones, especially since some claim we’re on the cusp of legalization in our state.

We learned that HB1713 and its amendment passed on a voice vote. This bill requires that a defendant who is charged with or awaiting sentence for an offense punishable by life imprisonment or imprisonment of a maximum term of 15 years or more be present at the return of the verdict and at sentencing after trial, subject to excusal for cause. The bill further permits a court to order the use of reasonable force in carrying out a transport order issued pursuant to this section of an incarcerated defendant who refuses to comply with that order. The bill further makes it a class A felony to knowingly violate this provision. This was a bill created by Former House Speaker Steve Shurtleff (D-Penacook) in response to the murder conviction in the Harmony Montgomery case. The bill was accepted by the House as a late bill (submitted after bill submission deadlines) and fast-tracked through the House. If this bill passes the Senate and gets signed by the Governor, Adam Montgomery may have to face the family and loved ones of the daughter he is convicted of murdering at his May 9th sentencing date.

We learned that a bill prohibiting mandatory masking policies in public schools passed 187-184. HB1093 would prohibit public schools from adopting policies that require students or members of the public to wear a mask while on school property. Protective equipment used for sports or for handling chemicals for scientific or educational purposes was excluded. I think they omitted Halloween festivities at schools, but at least this was a good start.

We learned that HB1592 was Tabled 191Y-186N. This bill was another attack on Education Freedom Accounts, and would have prohibited the use of EFA funds for religious school tuition. This would be contrary to multiple U.S. Supreme Court rulings dating back several decades. These include Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), Trinity Lutheran v. Comer (2017), Espinoza v. Montana Dept of Revenue (2020), and Carson v. Makin (2022). The opinion in the Carson case sums up these cases: “A neutral benefit program in which public funds flow to religious organizations through the independent choices of private benefit recipients does not offend the Establishment Clause.” Week after week, we see these continued attacks on our successful EFA school choice program…. Because afterall, House Democrats will tell you,“it’s for the kids”.

We learned that parental consent won today. HB1616 passed 190Y-187N. With regard to Medicaid reimbursement for medical and health related services provided to students with disabilities, this bill affirms that written parental consent should be obtained for each new service provided to the child and billed to Medicaid. Proponents believe that an initial consent should not be an open door for all services and billing for the child. Parents have a right to know what is being billed. Democrats wanted to Interim Study this bill, essentially killing it and allowing the continued practice of “blank check” billing and non transparency. I think parents should know if their kids are actually receiving the services that are being billed by providers.

We learned that HB1145 passed 208Y-162N. The House was talkin’ trash as they debated banning the private ownership of landfills. An initial motion to Table failed 180Y (R:178 D:2) to 193N (R:11 D:182). The premise of this bill is to ban private ownership of landfills in New Hampshire in order to get around the US Commerce Clause and allow us to limit – or even eliminate – the importation of out of state trash. It grandfathers in existing landfills, so there will be no impact to what we already do at those facilities anyway. Four of the six landfills in the state are publicly owned. Almost 50% of those facilities’ landfilled trash is from out of state. We only have one new landfill permit currently being considered at the State Department of Environmental Services, and it appears this bill just seeks to shut that down. It’s the one being considered in Dalton. It’s not even clear what would happen to that permitting process if this bill gets signed into law. Proponents claim it’s a better idea for all landfills to be owned by the state, or its political subdivisions, and operated by a contractor. Opponents just don’t like the fascist idea of banning private ownership of anything.

We learned that HB1222 passed with an amendment and a voice vote. Currently, Physician Assistants (PAs) may only practice if they have a signed collaboration agreement with a physician, and basically, this bill eliminates that requirement. These collaboration agreements can be costly; up to $1000/month and in many, cases the physician who signed a collaboration agreement had no relationship with the PA other than requiring the PA to pay for the signature. This bill will make it easier for PAs to practice in NH would help alleviate the shortage of medical personnel, and increase access to medical care.  This bill will make it less expensive and easier for them to say, “Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.”  Just kidding… they do more than that!

We learned that HB1323 passed on a voice vote. This will allow an appropriation to be made to print 5,000 copies of the NH State Constitution for the fourth graders who tour the State House. I’d say civics education is a worthwhile use of tax dollars. As they say, “It’s for the children”!

We also learned that parts of HB1607 passed. This was the “Safe Haven” bill. Current law allows a parent to surrender an infant within seven days of birth directly to a person at a hospital, church, police or fire station, or to an EMT at an agreed location. That is considered a “warm handoff.” This bill, in its entirety, would expand the time for surrender to 61 days and would allow the parent increased anonymity, as the child could be placed in a safe haven baby box at a hospital, fire station, or police station, which is attended 24 hours a day. As drafted, the bill also provided for the exclusion of all evidence of abuse or neglect gathered as a result of the parent surrendering a child in this manner from being used as evidence in a criminal or civil trial. The exclusionary piece was stripped out on a motion to divide the bill into two questions. Sections 1-4 and 6 of the bill passed 372Y-1N and section 5 of the bill, regarding the exclusion of evidence, failed 185Y-188N. House members did not want someone who abused a child after 61 days to get off “scott free” after surrendering a child to the safe haven box. House members who wanted the exclusionary portion to remain in the bill, claimed that saving a babies life should take precedence over prosecuting a parent. We have now left this bill in a box for the Senate to deal with.

We learned that HB1121 passed on a voice vote. This common sense bill allows a wetlands permit exemption for a property owner who wishes to clear storm debris from a stream on their property, especially if the debris is causing a blockage in the stream causing the stream to divert course which threatens property. Recent flooding in my town prompted me to author this bill. I’d be pleased if you called your senator and asked for him/her to support it.

We learned that both wake boating bills were tabled. HB1301 sought to establish a petition process before the NH Department of Safety where 25 people can request a hearing to ban wake surfing on a specific body of water. That was Tabled 196Y-172N. HB1390 was Tabled 190Y-178. That bill added definitions, made various prohibitions and restrictions to wakesports. The changes sought to lessen the impact of the energy distributed by these waves to shoreline, loon nesting spots, and unintentionally to people who are recreating in smaller craft and to protect the water quality of the lake. Opponents of both bills claim that they were too restrictive, would have hurt tourism and most importantly that public waters belong to everyone to enjoy. They were not convinced that wakesports are a cause of water quality damage but that excessive rain and other factors contribute more to shoreline erosion and cyanobacteria blooms. I would imagine these bills will probably come back to the legislature again, like large ripples in the pond.

We learned that both bills designed to increase housing passed. HB1291: increasing the number of Accessory Dwelling Units allowed on a property passed 220Y-143N after a Tabling motion failed 87Y-277N. HB1399 also passed 220Y-140N. That bill allows single family homes to be divided into a duplex. Opponents of both bills said this was a top down, one size fits all zoning change mandated by the state. They felt local control should prevail in these matters. They’re not wrong either.

We learned that HB1683, relative to coverage of circumcision under the state Medicaid plan, was tabled last week 188Y-187N. Today it was taken off the Table 189Y-188N followed by a motion to ITL which failed 185Y-188N. Then a Motion to Reconsider the OTP/A motion passed 188Y-186N followed by the final OTP/A Motion that failed 184Y-191N. After that, it was put back on the Table with a Voice Vote. So you can see how that whole exercise was a total waste of time.

We also learned that HB1353, the bill that would give the Commissioner of the Dept. of Education subpoena power (Tabled last week 293-58), was also attempted to be taken off the Table. The motion to remove from the Table failed 183Y-194N.

We further learned that when Republican attendance dropped to 178 and Democrats were 182, (around 6:05 PM), Rep. David Luneau (D-Hopkinton) seized the opportunity to remove HB546 off the Table. That bill was Tabled back in January (01/03/24) with a vote of 190-187. This bill was relative to the School building aid funding program and requires a minimum of $50,000,000 per fiscal year to be transferred to the school building aid fund, in addition to any debt service payments, for school building aid grants. The Remove From Table motion passed 182Y-179N and an OTP motion then passed 182Y-178N. The breakdown of roll-called votes went like this: Yeas 182(R:1 D:181) Nays (R:177 D:1). It’ll be interesting to see what the Senate Finance Committee does with it.

We learned that HB1711 was pulled off the consent calendar. HB1711 authorizes the state to report mental health data for firearms background check purposes and providing for processes for confiscation of firearms following certain mental health-related court proceedings and for relief from mental health-related firearms disabilities. All the gun groups were against this bill. At first, a Table motion failed 150Y-205N. Then, the committee amendment (0431h) passed on a voice vote, and two other floor amendments failed. Ultimately, the bill passed with the committee amendment, 204Y-149N on a roll call vote. The vote breakdown was Yeas 204 (R:25 D:179) Nays (R:147 D:2).  Proponents said that this language was adopted by language from the NRA and was vetted with our NH Attorney General and NAMI and that it works well without any problems in other states to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness. Opponents felt there were too many issues with a “red flag” bill like this and that psych doctors could declare anyone “unfit” and strip them of 2A rights.

We finally learned that at 7 PM, HB1283—the assisted suicide bill—was reconsidered after it passed last week OTP/A 179-176. The reconsideration motion failed 147Y-210N. I think at this point, people just wanted to go home. This bill will now go to the Senate, and we’ll see if they will assist in its demise.

Next week, we get a break, but we’ll be back with more bills and motions on April 11—which will also be Tartan Day! We’re headed to Crossover Day, and we’ll start seeing Senate bills hit the House floor.

The post So Kids, What Did We Learn From This Week’s House Session (3/28/24)? appeared first on Granite Grok.

The dark clouds in Joe Biden’s latest pronounced promise to his gullible following are that he will dismember the Second Amendment and create their dream of gun control (elimination, that is). I guess Joe really thinks he’s a King of something; I’d suggest he’s the king of fools.

The only way he could do that is by amending our constitution (ours, not his), removing, eliminating, or radically chaining the 2nd. Oh, he might try stacking the SCOTUS, even if that is problematic, but the only other way is by some kind of force.

Either of those routes would be met with equal measures of resistance. So, unless Biden and Democrats can gain supermajorities in both houses of Congress, the only path would be to trigger some kind of reaction they could declare, such as a revolution, then martial law, and try to seize permanent control of the government.

A key for we conservatives is to keep from overreacting to any provocation from the left, hold our ground on our rights, and watch those sons of you know what. Next, we must unite and vote out the Democrats and elect our people. Once we do that and have Trump as President again, we can demand every leftist criminal in or around the government be arrested, prosecuted, and sent to prison for exceedingly long terms.

Never Trumpers need to understand that Trump has not broken any laws, has upheld the constitution, and even if he lacks the proper etiquette or what they expect from a president, he does give us our best chance to save this Republic—better Trump than communist slaves.

The post Night Cap: Dismembering the Second Amendment appeared first on Granite Grok.

Lily Tang Williams, the front runner Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Hampshire’s 2nd district, issues her statement on Rep. Annie Kuster not seeking a 7th term.

“I want to thank Rep. Kuster for her service and I hope all is well with her and her family.

I am energized that the voters of our district will be offered a choice based on issues rather than incumbency.

Please Submit Group communications or Press Releases to steve@granitegrok.com.
Submission is not a guarantee of publication – Publication is not an endorsement.

As a legal immigrant who worked hard to earn my citizenship, I believe it is critical that we re-establish our nation’s Border Security to protect our northern and southern borders, reduce government deficit spending, control inflation, and develop all energy resources within a free market economy.”

Lily Tang Williams, born and raised in Communist China, came to the US to seek freedom in 1988. She is a mother of three adult children, two of whom served in the US Military, is a self-employed small businesswoman. She is actively campaigning in NH 2nd Congressional District and has garnered 52 endorsements from current NH State Legislators. Lily’s campaign slogan is “KEEP THE AMERICAN DREAM ALIVE.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Weare, New Hampshire
March 27, 2024
Contact: Mark Zaccaria, zaccaria@att.net, 401.225.5051

The post Lily Tang Williams Statement on Rep. Annie Kuster not Seeking Re-Election appeared first on Granite Grok.

For years, Democrats in New Hampshire have pretended to be the Jimmy McMillin of property taxes. Like the rent, they are too damn high. If elected, they promise to do something about it. Lower them. Not taxes; those will go up; you just won’t see them.

The goal is not fewer taxes but less visibility, at least initially. Your property tax bill will get a trim, but your total tax burden will grow substantially. These are Demcorats. It can’t go any other direction but up. Government always comes first; if you’ve any doubts, look left (from New Hampshire) to Vermont.

The Green Mountain State used to be safer and healthier but has been heading in the wrong direction on tax and regulatory policy for a long time. An itch it has gotten more aggressive at scratching as Democrat majorities increased to veto-proof majorities. Vermonters only have themselves ot blame, but it allows the rest of us to learn from their mistakes.

The Vermont House is expected to vote on an $8 billion state spending plan this week. It comes as lawmakers consider millions in new investments and millions in new taxes to fund them.

A key House panel advanced a plan to fund critical priorities in the budget, floated by about $125 million in new taxes.

The House Appropriations Committee is considering a state spending plan, including a big expansion of Medicaid, an expansion of the judiciary and more supports for affordable housing. And those ideas are all funded by new taxes– increases in the corporate income tax, the foreign income tax and the property transfer tax, and a new tax bracket for Vermonters who make more than $500,000 annually.

A proposal to tax unrealized gains like stocks did not advance.

Others, like a potential tax on candy, soda, streaming services and an expansion of the sales tax are still up for debate.

Vermont is already overtaxed. It has environmental aspirations that will cost billions and an education funding debacle it created that requires a 20% hike in … property taxes. That’s unpopular, so the people who made the mess are willing to consider raising less visible taxes as if that helps.

But a revenue option to buy down the property tax hike is not yet on the table, though Vt. House Speaker Jill Krowinski said last week they will work on ways to lower the property tax burden.

Gov. Phil Scott said last week he would consider raising taxes to buy down the $240 million ed fund increase, but he said he would only support that if lawmakers pass widespread systemic reform, which is something that would likely take multiple studies and legislative sessions.

The necessary reform is fewer Democrats and, it has to be said, fewer Republicans like Phil Scott, who can’t stop the Democrats he has and can do little more than appear to resist impulses he shares.

I’m not sure if Vermont can be saved. It would take a level of civic and electoral awareness that people who tend to vote for Demcorats lack. New Hampshire, on the other hand, is teetering on the ends of a bowl, leaning back against a growing army of Democrats trying to push it in. If they succeed in taking the majority and the governor’s office, we’ll be swirling in the blue water behind Maine, which has a bit of a head start but still has a way to go to catch Vermont.

Both places where the more the government takes, the worse everything else gets.

The post Granite Stater’s (Any Stater’s Actually) Can See What Democrats “Mean” by Looking At Vermont appeared first on Granite Grok.

Incumbent NH State Representative Jose’ Cambrils is running for re-election in Merrimack County District 4 – Canterbury / Loudon.

Jose’ was born in Victoria De Las Tunas, Cuba in 1960. He and his family immigrated (legally) to the United States in 1965 to escape from the Communist Castro regime.

He was very proud to take the oath of citizenship and become a U.S. citizen in June of 1973.

He went on to earn a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., in 1983 and an MBA in Operations Management from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Mass., in 1987.

He moved to New Hampshire in 1987, fell in love with this great State, and has been here ever since. He and his wife, Allison, have lived in Loudon for the past eight years.

He has been a life-long “Reagan” Republican since voting for the first time in the 1980 election.

Jose’ worked for Honeywell, Wang Labs, Cal-comp, Sanders Associates, Lockheed-Martin, and BAE Systems over the course of his 35-year career as an Engineer and Engineering Executive in the Commercial and Military Electronics business.

He retired from BAE in September of 2015 at the age of 55. He has remained very active in politics and in local community support. He is also a proud long-time member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the NH Firearms Coalition (NHFC) and the American Numismatic Association (ANA).

Jose’ is a Republican State Delegate and he was the treasurer of the Merrimack County Republican Committee from September 2017 – January 2024. He continues to be an MCRC member. He was given the Norris Cotton Award for his service by the NH GOP in January 2024.

In 2020 Jose’ won the Republican primary and the general election for one of two seats for NH State Representative in Merrimack County District 9. He became the first Cuban refugee to hold high office in the State of New Hampshire. He ran again and won re-election for State Rep. in 2022 for Merrimack County District 4 – Canterbury/Loudon.

Jose’ served on the Science, Technology & Energy Committee in his first term. In his second term, he was asked to serve on the Finance Committee. He is a member of the Freedom Caucus. He has never missed a House session in four years of service, and he has a 100% vote rating with the House Republican Alliance 4 years in a row. He received the “General John Stark Protector of Freedom” Award from Americans for Prosperity (AFP) in 2021 and a 100% voting record Gold Award from Granite State Taxpayers (GST) in 2022. Additionally, he has been endorsed by NRA, NHFC, NH Liberty Alliance, Cornerstone, CPAC, and RebuildNH with “A” ratings.

He is fluent in Spanish, and his interests include fishing, hunting, coin collecting, and Cuban-style pig roasts. VOTE FOR JOSE.

E-Mail: Jose4NH@comcast.net

WEB Site: Jose4NH.Org

The post Jose’ E. Cambrils for NH State Rep. 2025-2026 appeared first on Granite Grok.

Local ABC affiliate WMUR reports that pasty white New Hampshire Democrat Colin Van Ostern is stepping up to run for Congress after Ann Kuster announced her retirement. Van  Ostern has been Kuster’s campaign manager, a former Executive Councilor, and one of Chris Sununu’s Dem challengers (he lost).

He is your typical NH Democratic candidate, Pale and White. It’s an interesting way to start the day after Kuster’s announcement: out with one white Democrat candidate, in with another.

Given how they prattle on about rights, equity, and social justice, you’d have expected someone with more melanin to announce first. Prompted perhaps by pasty white Ray Buckley.  Or perhaps that’s all just bullshit, or maybe they, like their ideological ancestors, are a bunch of racists. Dumb racists. Related: Can Democrats Overcome “Systemic Racial Inequality” When They Can’t Manage it in Their Own Primary?

The DNC revoked their First in the Nation Primary position because (drumroll) “people of color.” New Hampshire is too white, you see. We are not diverse enough. A problem for Democrats that I have long argued could have been averted had the proglodytes nominated someone of color in any federal race. You only needed one but it has never happened, but it’s not hard to do. Republicans have nominated blacks and Latinos to run in CD2 (for example) more often than not in the past decade-plus.

When NH CD-1 opened up, they nominated a pasty white guy named Chris Pappas. He’s perched in that position, Pelosi rubber stamp in one hand, chicken finger in the other, for two terms, and he looks whiter every year. Pasty white Kuster announces her departure, and the first face to pop up over the gated community fence is someone whiter than she is—a guy I like to call Colon Van Oscopy.

He’s in: @ColinVanOstern tells @WMUR9 in 1-on-1 interview he’s running for Congress in New Hampshire’s 2nd District https://t.co/gYVcEEE019 #NH02 #NHPolitics #WMUR pic.twitter.com/DwqyuYWFXy

— Adam Sexton (@AdamSextonWMUR) March 28, 2024

And now the Dems in New Hampshire have another problem. They like to discourage primaries, but it behooves them to find someone brown to run against Van Ostern. A “someone” who will likely lose the primary, once again proving they are a party that talks the talk but never walks the walk. Related: Why NH Democrats Should Be Proud to Lose Their Primary

If it matters, the Republican challenger is Lily Tang Williams, a woman from China who escaped Mao’s tyranny. Van Ostern, for the record, will work to duplicate that tyranny here in America.

The post Pasty White VanOstern Running to Replace Pasty White Ann Kuster – Did the NH Dems Learn Nothing? appeared first on Granite Grok.

In a fast-moving story culminating in the shortest career ever at the NBC News Network, Ronna McDaniel is officially out as a political analyst at MSNBC. The inmates have taken over the asylum as the top echelon of the network has bent their knees, apologized to, and assuaged their celebrity talking heads who began their temper tantrums on air Sunday morning.

With each successive show, the former employees, now network executives, grew louder and bolder. Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid, and Rachel Maddow all took their shots at management, condemning them for their lousy decision to hire McDaniel without consulting the rank and file. In reversing their decision because of internal condemnation, the leadership of the NBC / MSNBC network has been transferred to the hired help. TV on-air personalities have inflated egos and elevated personal value, but the camera angles must be adjusted to fit their enlarged heads on the screen.

Here are some of the quotes from Tuesday evening’s shows.

Rachel Maddow, “You wouldn’t hire a made man, like a mobster, to work in the DA’s office (chuckle).”

Jen Psaki, “Our Democracy is in danger because of the lies from people like Ronna McDaniel has pushed on the country.”

Chuck Todd, “She already has a credibility issue she must work through before facing the public.”

Keep in mind that these quotes are from people who pushed the Russian Conspiracy Theory, the dossier, the Trump phone call to Ukraine, denied the existence of the Biden laptop, and that radical Trump supporters killed four Capital police officers on January 6. These people are not afraid of the truth. They have no conception of the truth. Their ambivalence towards McDaniel has little to do with the truth and more about their need for unfettered delivery of the White House and Joe Biden doctrine. They want no debate on the Peacock Network. They want only a continuation of the orchestrated gaslighting that has been the narrative of the Legacy Media, CNN, and MSNBC.

In the official statement from NBC Universal News Chairman, Cesar Conde:

“Our initial decision was made because of our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a wide diverse set of viewpoints and experiences, particularly during these consequential times.”

It sounds impressive and a welcome change to NBC and MSNBC, which has been more of a Democrat mouthpiece than a news source. Unfortunately, retracting the position to Ronna McDaniel because of the internal grumbling of the staff shows this was an empty line meant to impress but not to be authentic. The lineup of political opinion analysts, there are no actual news shows on MSNBC, does not want diversity in their ranks unless you are talking about skin color or sexual proclivity.

To bring political diversity to NBC and MSNBC would expose their audience to a storyline that would be very foreign to them. It may also prompt people to view the network as a biased entity that has been gaslighting since its inception. That is something we have been trying to tell them for years.

The post Move Over Peacock, Make Room For Mika And Rachel appeared first on Granite Grok.