State House and Senate News

April 22, 2009

For Immediate Release

Contact Information Officer Cissy Taylor

(603) 271-3664

Cissy.taylor@leg.state.nh.us

HOUSE HAS 45-MINUTE SESSION

CONCORD –Members of the New Hampshire House today agreed to allow the

Hillsborough County Domestic Violence Unit to use space at the Manchester District

Court rent-free.

Senate Bill 25 was one of several bills contained in the Consent Calendar, which

has recommendations that came out of committee with unanimous or nearly unanimous

votes. The House casts one vote on the recommendations for all the bills on the calendar.

The domestic violence unit is currently funded by a grant that does not include a

provision for paying rent. The Legislature must approve any use of state property such as

this. According to supporters of the bill, because the unit is at the court, 80 percent of the

cases are resolved before they go to a judge.

SB 25 and other bills passed today will now go to Gov. John Lynch.

One of the bills on the Consent Calendar is expected to cut costs and save paper in

the House and Senate clerks’ offices by reducing the number of daily journals printed.

The law now requires that 1,200 copies are printed for the House and 1,200 for the

Senate.

SB 138 calls for a “sufficient number” because so many people now access the

journals on-line through the House and Senate web sites.

Among the other bills on the Consent Calendar were:

SB 22, making it a class A misdemeanor for defacing a natural geological

formation that has been declared a natural landmark;

SB 37, which allows a judge to consider where a defendant is the parent and sole

caretaker of a child when setting bond;

SB 176, which establishes an application fee for those on probation or parole who

apply to be supervised in another state;

SB 12, which increases the membership of the board of marital mediator

certification and renaming marital mediators as family mediators;

SB 62, which establishes a commission to study creating a statewide plan for

addressing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in New Hampshire, and

SB 28, which exempts non-menace dams from the annual dam registration fee as

long as the dams retain non-menace classification. If construction occurs downstream, the

classification could be changed.

On the floor of the House, in a session that took barely 45 minutes today, three

more bills were passed.

SB 155, that consolidates two financial disclosure forms so that legislators would

only have to file one form;

SB 60, which establishes a commission to study water infrastructure sustainability

funding, and

SB 58, allowing Department of Transportation vehicles to use alternate flashing

headlamps. Current law only allows alternate flashing headlamps on emergency vehicles,

such as those used by law enforcement and fire officials.

The next session of the House is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 29.