Episode 32766: Open Democracy Minute for June 14, 2021

You're listening to the Open Democracy Minute, keeping Granite State government by and for the people. A follow up from last week on some of the bills which passed in the NH House & Senate. We were awaiting the “concur” votes on bills which passed with amendments, forcing them to return to the originating body to “concur” with the changes made. Some of them, like the anti-For the People Act amendment on SB 89, were substantial changes of questionable intent. But the Senate concurred with the changes made in the House, despite the lack of a fiscal note on SB 89 and the additional expenses to cities and towns. HB 523, which requires anyone registering to vote and who doesn't have an ID to have their picture taken, also received a concur vote. However, SB 31, a bill which changed some of the language on the absentee ballot application and was amended in the House, was met with a “non-concur” vote, and will go to a committee of conference to sort out the differences between the House & Senate versions. Senate bill 83, which had two of its sections stripped out by the House receive a non-concur vote by the Senate, but will not go to a committee of conference and is dead. House bill 391, which originally increased campaign donation limits, had it's language added to another bill. That bill; too, died when the House refused to concur or join a committee of conference. Another session to consider the committee of conference results will be June 24, and the remaining bills will go to Governor Sununu. As Granny D said, “Democracy is not something we HAVE, it's something we DO.” For the Open Democracy Minute, I'm Brian Beihl