On January 26th, I recorded most of the hearing on a bill (HB 1606) that would allow 18-20 year olds to drink alcohol with someone 21 and up. In addition to fear-mongering cops testifying against the bill, the video ends with an epic nearly 20 minute Q&A for me by the reps on the criminal justice committee. Also, don’t miss the excellent testimony by Keene representative Tim Robertson. Here’s the video (it’s not the full hearing as I had to leave for a different hearing):
If you want to help move forward pro-liberty political change here, please join the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, whether you are in NH or not – you can help.
Last week in the state house Commerce committee, Joe Hannon, an A+ rated state rep by the NH Liberty Alliance, introduced a bill (though he was not the sponsor) to repeal the state’s regulations on hawkers and peddlers and an interesting discussion ensues. I weighed in as the final speaker on the matter. Here’s the full video of the hearing from January 19th on HB 1647:
If you want to help move forward pro-liberty political change here, please join the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, whether you are in NH or not – you can help.
Conan and I were two of the only people who spoke against the proposal to regulate room-shares like AirBnB in New Hampshire (HB 1590) in the Commerce committee at the state house legislative office building on January 19th. Here’s the full video of all the testimony on the bill. Like the UBER / ride-sharing regulatory proposal, the existing regulated industry was present to call for more regulation, rather than freedom for everyone, which was Conan’s and my argument:
If you want to help move forward pro-liberty political change here, please join the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, whether you are in NH or not – you can help.
I told Jared that the City of Manchester will be losing the suit, as they have across the United States. I don’t like panhandling, but as long as we have the idea of public property, free speech must be respected, and that includes asking for money. However, the solution to panhandling is changing all public property to private property. Here’s the full interview:
Chris told the Portsmouth Herald, “it’s still ludicrous that recording a conversation on a public sidewalk could land me in jail at all… Under that same logic, thousands if not millions of videos on YouTube represent potential misdemeanors. Why single me out? I think we all know why.”
The wiretapping statutes in New Hampshire are one of the worst parts of the state. NH is one of only a few states where all parties must consent to the recording, which prevents people from being held accountable for their actions. In many other states, people with undercover cameras can record their conversations in businesses or with government. Here, doing that will get you a possible jail sentence.
Christopher David of Free UBER, Courtesy Coin Telegraph
Monday’s Concord state house committee hearings included a late-afternoon hearing for the “UBER” bill, HB1697-FN and I was there to speak and record the hearing. The bill proposes state regulations for “Transporation Network Companies”, which is legal-speak for companies like UBER, that provide connections between people who want to share rides.
While the ideal “level playing field” is to have zero regulations for transportation across all of NH, we can’t expect these politicians to do that at this point. So, having one set of regulations for the entire state would be better than a patchwork of them across the different towns and cities, which would make compliance for companies like UBER very difficult. If that ends up happening, UBER may just decide jumping through various hoops for each town isn’t worth it, and pull out of NH entirely.
Whether UBER pulls out or not, the bill proposes a fee of $5,000 for any TNC be paid to the “Department of Safety”. This fee will definitely be a barrier to entry for new companies who want to compete with UBER. Not only that, but technology quickly outpaces government, as UBER has show, and Arcade City is going to continue to prove. As I point out in my testimony, the newly announced Arcade City is not going to be a corporate entity, so how is government going to get their precious fee from a computer program?
Of particular note in the video is the apparently dishonest testimony from David Weeks, the owner of Concord’s D&B Taxi. Weeks claims he took multiple experimental UBER rides in Manchester – one allegedly didn’t show up, the next driver couldn’t speak English, and the third driver had a bottle of beer between his legs.
David Weeks, Owner of D&B Taxis, Lies to Committee About UBER
On his fourth and final alleged UBER ride, he claims the driver, when asked, quoted a fare of $27 and asked for a tip or told him to get out! Even if Weeks were telling the truth about his first few rides, his fourth story drips of dishonesty. Now, I’m a newer UBER driver, but as far as I know, the driver isn’t presented with the amount the ride is worth in advance. We only decide to accept the ride based on their pickup location.
Second, though this alleged UBER driver in question could have been breaking the rules, the UBER training video makes it CLEAR that UBER does not require tipping. Yes, drivers can accept tips, but UBER riders are well-aware that tips are not required with UBER, so it would be stupid for an UBER driver to demand one.
Amusingly, in the beginning of his testimony, Weeks claims he doesn’t have an axe to grind! Anyone paying attention knows at the very least, that’s not the truth.
