This past Wednesday and Thursday the New Hampshire House of Representatives failed to approve either HB1 or HB2 with their committee amendments. The failure was caused by an unexpected of coalition of Democrats and the NH House Freedom Caucus (NHHFC) in opposition. On Wednesday both the Democrats and the House Freedom Caucus brought forth amendments to make late efforts to offer alternatives to the committee amendment that was expected to fail.
The Eaton amendment was offered by the Democrats for HB1 to reinclude full day kindergarten and increase contributions to select funds. This amendment failed when the House Freedom Caucus and Republican majority voted in coalition to defeat it. The House Freedom Caucus brought the Ammon amendment which was a broad “back of the budget cut” in the amount of $200 million which would have required the office of the Governor to find $200 million to satisfy such reductions. The Ammon amendment also put back into HB1 $219 million in federal funds that had been withheld from the budget by the Finance Committee’s amendment. After the failure of each bill’s committee amendments and floor amendments House leadership moved to table each bill.
There was a meeting at 2:30pm on Wednesday between delegates from the House Freedom Caucus including Rep. John Burt (R-Goffstown), Rep. Ed Comeau (R-Brookfield), Rep. Victoria Sullivan (R-Manchester), Rep. Eric Schleien (R-Hudson), me (L-Pelham) and the House Majority leadership joined by Finance Committee Chair Neal Kurk (R-Weare). In this meeting we went over a list of major General Fund appropriations including the Municipal Aid provision, the Community College System provision, and the Department of Safety appropriations which were to be targeted for reductions. Leadership expressed concern that federal matching funds may be lost as a result of reductions to these funds.
The delegates from the House Freedom Caucus asserted that the position of the caucus was that they would vote for a budget with no more that a 3.0% increase over the last biennium. Despite this the delegates also asked the leadership if there was some percentage increase where the two camps could “meet in the middle” as Finance chair Kurk had previously indicated that he could, in fact, find cuts that could bring the increase down from 10.5% (in the General Fund) to 4.5% over last biennium. This proposal had been mentioned to the House Freedom Caucus in convention by delegate John Burt and caucus leader J.R. Hoell (R-Dunbarton). The House Majority leadership did not appear to be able to pre-emptively agree to a 4.5% above budget without seeing the specific cuts included in the final amendment. (more…)
As reported over at Photography is Not a Crime today, a veteran of the US Marines, Billy Spaulding, recently attempted to pay a parking fine in pennies at Manchester city hall. Initially, police responded and lied to Billy’s cameraman, claiming he wasn’t allowed to record them without informing them. The cop claims, “You have to advise us that you’re recording us. You can’t record audio.” The reality is that recent New Hampshire court precedent says otherwise – not only can you record police in New Hampshire, but you can secretly record them. Unfortunately the videographer appears to have shut off the camera as a result of the cop’s lies. Based on the comments on the youtube video, he now knows better.
Liberty Lobbyist Darryl W Perry and I went to the state house this week to testify on more legislation. Here are five full hearing videos from last week:
HB 614 would prevent seized assets under $100,000 from being transferred to the federal government. Liberty legislator Mike Sylvia sponsored the bill. Here’s the full hearing video:
HB 140 would allow NH wine manufacturers to open an off-premises tasting room. Liberty Lobbyist Darryl W Perry and I testified in favor. This video is particularly entertaining as one of the liquor industry reps gets unintentionally trolled by my testimony. Here’s the full hearing video: (more…)
Liberty Lobbyist Darryl W Perry and I went to the state house this week to testify on more legislation. Here are three full hearing videos from this week:
HB 372 would change definitions of resident and inhabitant. Darryl W Perry testified against this dangerous bill. Here’s the full hearing:
HB 94 is a confusing bill. It purports to protect victims of sex trafficking, but the language is about punishing johns who have sex with a consenting teen, with felony charges. I testified against it. Here’s the full hearing: (more…)
Carla Howell is the political director for the national libertarian party and a long time Massachusetts libertarian activist. If you’ve been in the libertarian party in the last three decades, you’re probably familiar with her. She was the keynote speaker at this year’s Libertarian Party of New Hampshire convention in Concord. Here’s her speech:
Cheshire County Sheriff Eli Rivera has been making headlines this week for his compassionate stance against working with federal immigration enforcers. Rivera, a longtime fixture in the community and multi-term sheriff, announced via his website last week:
After taking some time to reflect on this current issue, as Sheriff, I’ve decided that the Cheshire County Sheriff’s Office will not seek to enter into an agreement with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) to enforce federal immigrations laws. Furthermore, we will not participate in raids, stings or operations that are solely intended at locating an undocumented person or persons. Any representative of ICE requesting our assistance must have an active criminal warrant issued by a judge or must be actively pursuing a criminal investigation that relates to public safety for us to participate.
According to the Sentinel’s report on Rivera’s announcement Keene Police’s acting chief, Steve Russo has yet to comment on the issue, but his late predecessor Brian Costa‘s position was similar to Rivera’s, saying, “We have no interest going forward, nor do we have the resources for deputizing our officers as part of ICE to go out and seek illegal or undocumented immigrants…We govern ourselves by our mission statement”, which says KPD is “to protect life and property and to maintain order within the City while assuring fair and respectful treatment of everyone.”
Costa said of that mission statement in his interview with the Sentinel earlier this month, prior to his untimely passing, “It’s not just a group of words…It’s how we do business.”
KPD’s Late Chief Brian Costa
It sounds like Sheriff Rivera is on the same page as Costa. In his excellent statement, Rivera continues:
In addition, we will not ask a person their immigration status or detain a person based on an administrative civil detainer that is not issued by a judge. As Sheriff, I do not want undocumented immigrants to fear the Sheriff’s Office, instead I want them to be able to approach and speak to any of my deputies without the fear that they will be turned over to ICE. If in the course of our duties we happen to come across an undocumented person we will handle each encounter in a way we deem appropriate for each situation…
If you are an undocumented person in Cheshire County and feel uncertain about approaching law enforcement for fear they will turned you over to ICE, feel free to call me, Sheriff Eli Rivera, at the Cheshire County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the WMUR report on Rivera’s policy, some control-freak politicians are butthurt over this. Good. Unlike those cowardly politicians, kudos to Rivera for having the courage to do the right thing and truly protect the people of Cheshire county from the evil hands of the federal government. It would be better of course if Rivera would also stop cooperating with the feds on other victimless crime enforcement, like the insane War on Drugs, but this is a BIG step in the right direction.
I’m glad to live in a place where law enforcement acts more human, more often, than anywhere else I’ve ever been. You’ve got Rick Van Wickler, Cheshire County’s jail superintendent who is also a longtime speaker at Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a compassionate group of mostly former police which you may remember as being previously called, “Law Enforcement Against Prohibition” until they expanded their mission to include other issues where police reform is badly needed, Van Wickler has been a constant presence in Concord at state house hearings about drug legalization, speaking strongly in favor of any efforts to end prohibition in New Hampshire. He also runs his jail much more compassionately than the supermajority of the others in the United States. Add to that, a relatively calm and approachable group of Keene police, and now this excellent news from Sheriff Rivera.
Thank you, Eli. You’ve earned my vote in the next election. The land known as Cheshire county in the Shire should be a sanctuary for all peaceful people. Your immigration policy helps us get closer to that ideal. Next step, NH seceding from the United States! Viva New Hampshire!
On the other hand, a different group of critics say that my recent article about the hypocrisy of the Free State Project board regarding their selection of John McAfee as the headliner for Porcfest is proof that I’m holding a grudge over being booted from their events.
Both groups are upset – the people who hate the FSP and the people who blindly carry water for the FSP. So, why would I give the FSP free publicity but also criticize them?
Uh, that’s what I’ve always done. For long before I (and my show) was kicked out of the FSP events I had held their feet to the fire on a multitude of occasions when I though their board made an ill-advised or hypocritical decision. The Snowden recording controversy from 2016 was the most recent one prior to my removal. There were other instances, but a review of the “Free State Project” category on this site reveals what the bulk of my posts have been – puff pieces for the FSP, for more than a decade.
Most of the time, the FSP is doing good work – encouraging liberty people to move to New Hampshire and get active. Every now and then their board will do something dumb and they’ve been called on it by me, other Free Keene bloggers, or a fellow Free Talk Live talk show host. I don’t take what they did to me personally and I don’t hold a grudge. I do allocate my airtime mostly to promoting the Shire Society rather than the FSP, as I believe it to be a superior migration movement since it’s decentralized and has no board, but on my radio show when we are discussing why people are moving to New Hampshire, I still mention the FSP as one of the active migrations here.
If I were holding a grudge, why did I interview FSP president Matt Philips at Anarchapulco about what the FSP has been up to since they reached their goal of 20,000 participants? Regardless of the haters, the FSP and the Shire Society are competing towards recruiting libertarians, voluntarists, and liberty-loving anarchists to uproot their lives and move to New Hampshire. I’m not letting some petty haters within the liberty community get in the way of that goal, which I still share with the FSP.
