Two Resolutions Being Promoted in the House

March 6, 2019

A local organization, the NH Community Rights Network (NHCRN), has drafted two resolutions with very similar wording (CACR4 and CACR8) to amend the New Hampshire State Constitution to give local cities and towns the right to create laws without getting permission of the legislature. The topic came up at the Selectmen's meeting on Feb. 11, 2019.

For various reasons given in the following article, this amendment should be voted down. A public hearing was held on March 6th, so that was the first place for this bill to be challenged.

Beware

Voters should be wary of any group wanting to change the state constitution. The resolution states in part that local people could "enact local laws that recognize, secure, and protect the economic, social, and environmental well-being of people, their communities, and natural environments." This seems to sound like the community activism that has tended to promote a selective radical agenda. In contrast, the purpose of the state legislature is to allow for an open and vigorous debate before passing new laws and especially to make it difficult to pass bad laws.

Suspicious Proposal from 2018

This was reminiscent of a time in July 2018 when the Allenstown Selectmen reviewed a radical proposal from the NH Municipal Association (dated June 20, 2018) for a state bill to allow towns to pass their own laws to regulate the possession of firearms, even though the state constitution gives the legislature sole control of firearm regulations. (See RSA 159:26.) This proposal would have allowed towns to create a crazy quilt of laws from town to town and essentially do nothing for public safety since criminals do not obey laws anyway.

Based on some unfavorable opinions from residents in the audience, the selectmen decided not to offer any support for this new resolution.

Some Unrealistic Aspects

NHCRN is trying to get the resolution put on the Nov. 2020 ballot. An inspection of one of their web pages (which starts by asking for donations) provided examples of several towns that were able to pass ordinances to deal with various situations, but many of them repeated the clarion call for a "Right to a Sustainable Energy Future." This sounded like the unrealistic political mantra that wind and solar power (but not nuclear power) can somehow replace oil, gas, and coal. It begs the question: if towns have been able to protect themselves via local action, why is there this push for a constitutional amendment?

Public Hearing on March 6

A public hearing on CACR4 and CACR8 was held by the House Municipal & County Government Committee in Concord, NH, on Wednesday, March 6, 2:30 p.m. in Room 301-303 of the Legislative Office Building,
33 N. State St., which is the building behind the State House. This beautiful, ornately sculpted building had been the old post office.

Suspicious Origins

The state representatives listed below are sponsoring this resolution. It is obvious that state bills are sometimes proposed by Democrats and sometimes by Republicans. Ideally, one would hope that the bills would be bipartisan. But doesn't it seem odd that eight of the sponsors of CACR8 are from the counties that border Taxachusetts? These are counties into which people have likely escaped from below the border. Doesn't it also seem strange that nine sponsors are Democrats and that three of them are from the same district 21? Doesn't it seem curious that five of them live in neighboring Merrimack and Nashua?

Therefore, this is not the bipartisan bill that one would hope for, it is possibly being promoted to serve a hidden agenda, and thus does not deserve your support. The hidden danger is that it will allow small, vocal, activist groups to convince towns to prohibit certain legitimate activities in the name of the "well-being of the people."

Rep. Ellen Read (D) - Rockingham Co,, Dist. 17, Newmarket (prime sponsor)
Rep. David Meuse (D) - Rockingham Co., District 29, Portsmouth
Rep. William Pearson (D) - Cheshire Co., District 16, Keene
Rep. Joshua Adjutant (D) - Grafton Co., District 17, Ashland
Rep. Vincent Paul Migliore (R) - Grafton Co., District 9, Bridgewater
Rep. Janice Schmidt (D) - Hillsborough Co., District 28, Nashua
Rep. Skip Cleaver (D) - Hillsborough Co., District 35, Nashua
Rep. Nancy Murphy (D) - Hillsborough Co., District 21, Merrimack
Rep. Kathryn Stack (D) - Hillsborough Co., District 21, Merrimack
Rep. Wendy Thomas (D) - Hillsborough Co., District 21, Merrimack

What You Can Do

Check out their web site and see what is being proposed and how various towns have dealt with regional problems without the need for this constitutional amendment. The March 6th hearing may yield some good news about putting the brakes on these proposals. Don't accept the claims that NHCRN is only interested in the "well-being of the people."

You can also contact your State Representatives:

Merrimack Co., District 22
Rep. Alan J. Turcotte (D)
alanturcotte4rep@gmail.com
603.485.2349

Merrimack Co., District 29
Rep. Carol M. McGuire (R)
carol@mcguire4house.com
603.782.4918