A quick recap of a busy week in the New Hampshire House

  It has been awhile since I wrote about what has been happening here in the state of New Hampshire, but the House has had a busy week or so, so I decided this would be a good time to update anyone who might be interested in what has been happening here.

  In the last couple of days the House has approved an education bill, expanding the death penalty, as well as new gun bills, parental notification, and addressed the early release of some criminals.

  I will start with the education issue, and I will make it brief. The House passed a constitutional amendment on education by a vote of 252-113 which would remove the courts from the issue of education and place it back where it belongs–in the State House. The bill will now move to the State Senate where a 2/3 majority will be needed for this to make it to the ballot box where the voters will also have to approve it by a 2/3 majority for the state constitution to be amended.

  The House also passed several new gun bills–most notably the Castle Doctrine, which basically states that a person can use lethal force to defend himself wherever he has a legal right to be (where guns are not prohibited, such as school areas) without first having to retreat. Another notable gun bill which passed the House would do away with concealed carry permits and allow anyone to carry concealed without a permit, as long as they do not have a felony on their record. (The background checks would still verify a person’s record when they purchase a weapon.)  And finally, the House passed a bill which would allow a person to transport a weapon in a vehicle while it was loaded, currently a weapon must be unloaded and in full display when being transported.

  The House also passed a parental notification bill which would require the parents of an underage girl to be notified if their child sought an abortion. New Hampshire had previously had such a law on the books, but the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional because it did not include an exception when the mother’s life was in danger. The new bill would allow an underage girl to go to a court for permission to obtain an abortion instead of notifying a parent and it is believed that this clause will allow the bill to survive a court challenge.

  I can’t even begin to put into words how deplorable I find it that under current law an UNDERAGE girl can seek to have an abortion and the parents of that girl need never know about it. A child needs a note from the parent before they can get an aspirin at school, and a child needs permission from a parent before they can go on a school field trip, yet under current law the parent does not have a right to know that their UNDERAGE child has had an abortion. This bill is a step in the right direction towards restoring the rights of the parents.

  Next up, the House passed a bill which would expand the death penalty to include a murder which took place during a home invasion. Current New Hampshire law limits the death penalty as an option only in the case of a murder of a judge or police officer, murders that occur during rape or kidnapping or during a drug deal. The push for this legislation came in the aftermath of the horrific killing of Kimberly Cates, and the attempted murder of her 11 year old daughter (when her throat was slashed and she was left for dead). 

  And lastly, the House voted to temporarily repeal a law that Governor Lynch recently signed into law–the early release of violent criminals. In an attempt to save the state roughly seven million dollars, the governor put his signature on legislation which would free sex offenders and other criminals almost a year early while claiming that this made the state safer because these criminals would be monitored.

  This is just the first phase in regards to all of these bills as they will now head to the State Senate for a vote before they make it to the governor’s desk, and it will be interesting to see what is going to happen with these bills. But one thing is for sure, things are beginning to heat up here in New Hampshire.