CarriageTowneNews.com, Kingston, NH

My Opinion

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus
January 28, 2010

My Opinion: Jan. 28, 2010

By NH State Rep. L. Mike Kappler

RAYMOND – I would like to congratulate State Representative Ken Weyler, of Kingston (Rockingham 8) on his recent special election win and welcome him back to the House. It is a good sign that his 2 to 1 win margin, combined with the other recent win by Lynne Blankenbeker in the Democratic stronghold of Concord that the Republican message that all this spend, tax, and fee by the Democratic majority must stop. Thank you to all that came out and voted for Rep. Weyler.

An interesting bill for us here in Rockingham County is HB-1331, relative to extending the days for recreational taking of clams following an emergency closing. I attended the Fish & Game Committee Public Hearing on it and after listening to the debate on the “as introduced” version of the bill, I am against it.

Currently, the season for clam, oyster, and other bivalve harvesting is for Saturdays only. The waters are monitored for pollution caused by 1” of rain or more, waste water treatment systems, red tide, or other contaminates. These pollution problems can close clamming for up to 14 days, depending on how long it takes for the pollution level to lower to acceptable limits.

The bill calls for: that for each day of such closing, extend the season a day. Debate reveled problems such as: you can run out of available days, then Fish & Game Dept. could not comply with the law; over clamming, could ruin the resource; and availability to collect testing data on some days, especially Sunday. With the no clamming days, the average open days per season is about 17, with the lowest year being 14. Ocean storms also can cause the shifting of sands and destroy the young ones. Baby clams known as “spats” and “yearlings” may not be harvested. It takes two years to become the required “2” clam, required for harvesting. I believe the current season is fine and will vote against this bill when it comes to the floor. Bill will come to the floor recommended to ITL (kill) as voted on from the committee.

The Joint Facilities Committee recently passed a ban on guns in the State House, but as passed, there is no way it can be enforced. As required by Rules, in response to a written request from four Legislators, the committee agreed to revisit the ban. The problems of enforcing the ban were explained, but they still voted straight party lines (7 to 5), except for Rep. Dan Eaton, D. from Stoddard to uphold the ban. Eaton voted with the four Republicans to repeal the ban.

Sen. Hassan (D), Exeter, said she was for the ban but against metal detectors. How can you enforce it without detectors? Rep. David Welch, R. from Kingston, sits on the Security Committee with Rep. Eaton and suggested that the ban be suspended while an active security panel does its work and while HB-1635 & HB-1654 have been debated, and run their due process in the House. One bill bans guns in the State House and the other in all public places. The best part of allowing these to vent is that the full House gets to vote on each one. House Rule 63 already bans guns in the House gallery, but Rep. Valerie Hardy, D. Litchfield brought this request forward to the Joint committee saying she was frightened and felt intimidated with the presence of guns. Rep. Hardy along with three Rockingham Democrat Reps. Day, Rock. 13; Kepner, Rock 15; and Moody, Rock 12, are sponsors of HB-1654-FN, which, as introduced, would make carrying a class B felony, with a cost to the taxpayers of over $250K a year to enforce.

I ask, with the budget in such a dismal state, do we really have to spend another $250K a year, plus all this time arguing about guns? Guns have been in the State House for several hundred years, let them stay. If you watch where the mass murders arise, such as schools and Ft. Hood in Texas, they happen in gun-free zones. We had a similar bill two years ago on the House floor and it was voted down 279-19.

So, how is the Democrat leadership controlling the House bills this year? This one is new to me. They are front loading all the Republican bills, jamming them through the public hearing, then exec-ting them. Many of us have several bills being heard at the same time in different committees, making it very difficult to be at all of them at the same time. My friend, Rep. Ulery, has three at the same time, in different committee rooms, that’s crazy.

Also this leaves many committee members absent for the bills their committee is hearing, at times less than 50%. I’ve had that problem in the past, on the Senate side, and asked unsuccessfully to have the time changed on one, but not in the House. I think the Democrats feel they are going to lose in November, and they want to jam as much of their agenda through this year, as they can. Have they ever heard of repeal?

Another example of this jamming was in the Public Works and Highways Committee where there were bills for the naming of three bridges and a portion of Route 43 after various people. Two of the bills were heard and exec’d ten minutes later, the other two, exec’d fifteen minutes after the hearing. We have always checked on these bills to be sure the bill stated that “there would be no cost to the taxpayer for signage or installation”. Was that taken care of? Was it thought of, or even looked into? If you want to name a bridge in memory of someone, that’s great, but you need to pay for the signage, and the installation of the sign, not the taxpayer.

(Editor’s Note: NH State Representative Mike Kappler can be reached at l.mikekappler@comcast.net)

Text Only
My Opinion: Jan. 28, 2010
by Anonymous , , Thu Jan 28, 2010, 10:41 AM EST
My Opinion

Obituaries

Stocks