I’m a freshman NH state representative and I’m writing out of frustration with the behavior of House Republicans on my committee, Municipal and County Government. We recently considered some bills to ameliorate the state’s housing crisis, including SB 329 and SB 400. These were both good bills originally that would have helped provide more housing options. Unfortunately, Republicans ruined these bills by forcing through, in a fiasco of procedural mayhem, a number of horrible amendments that added “poison pill” language to the bills from entirely unrelated House bills that they couldn’t get through the Senate on their own.
There is no reason to be including language about municipal or school district tax caps, or to be limiting the authority of town health officers, in housing legislation. This is the angriest I have seen many of my colleagues, and we have had many anger-inducing moments throughout this term. Ultimately, Republicans are playing politics with these amendments to get Democrats to vote against the bills, to make it look like Democrats oppose affordable housing, when actually what Democrats are objecting to are their harmful irrelevant junk amendments. I hope that New Hampshire voters will see through these games and vote out the House Republicans in the fall. In the meantime, I urge readers to contact their state senators and urge them to vote against concurring with the House amendments to SB 329 and SB 400. We need affordable housing legislation that is clean and unladen of unrelated Free State wishlist items.
Eric Gallager
Concord