On Nov. 15, 2021, after months of negotiating and more than 500 amendments, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Public Law 117-58, also known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”) into law. This law is now the largest long-term investment in our infrastructure and economy in our country’s history. It will provide $550 billion throughout fiscal years 2022-2026 in new federal investment in infrastructure, (roads, bridges, and mass transit), water infrastructure, climate resilience, and broadband. The law is intended to create jobs and improve public safety.

Here in New Hampshire, $5 million has been allocated to the expansion of internet access and assisting some households with their internet bills.

For those cities and towns dealing with contamination by PFAS, millions of dollars have been allocated to improve water infrastructure, eventually ensuring clean and safe water.

Investments were allocated for dams, ports and waterways throughout the country. Here in New Hampshire, Portsmouth Harbor is a significant port for goods and supplies in the northeast. Monies will go towards the protection of the environment, while reducing supply chain obstructions, improving safety, and strengthening the economy. 

Renewable energy will help all of us to combat what we now regularly see as climate change and extreme weather, not just here but nationally and globally. Millions of dollars have already arrived in New Hampshire, assisting families in making their homes more energy efficient. Among the allocations of that money is to the purchase of electric school buses and building more electric vehicle charging stations statewide. 

All this and more will come from the president’s bipartisan infrastructure law and we can thank our representatives in Washington, DC for the role they played in making it a reality! 

THIS is what bipartisanship for the good of all looks like. Let’s all work to keep it that way!

Word has it that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' fascist goons have descended on Disney World, put it to the torch, and are summarily executing the relics of our childhood. 

The universities are next.

This is a joke - perhaps in poor taste at a time when Israeli pogroms are happening in Palestine - but everything that has happened since 2016 tells me that modern Republican leaders are capable and willing to orchestrate incredible civil violence against the rest of us. Its one of the reasons I have concerns about conservatives who stockpile AR-15s.

This is also your reminder that Ronald DeSantis' road to Washington goes through New Hampshire. Lets make sure he has a bad time when he gets here.

The following is taken from the Executive Council website:

The Executive Council of the State of New Hampshire has the authority and responsibility, together with the Governor, over the administration of the affairs of the State as defined in the New Hampshire Constitution, the New Hampshire statutes, and the advisory opinions of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and the Attorney General.

Each of the five Executive Councilors represents one fifth of the population or approximately 263,000 citizens. Councilors are elected every two years, concurrently with the Governor. The Councilors participate in the active management of the business of the state. They receive assistance from the Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services and the Attorney General who review requests involving state funds since no expenditure can be legally authorized without the availability of adequate funds.

Among some of the duties of the council is approving appointments of Commissioners, Commissioners of Deeds, Judges, Justices of the Peace and Notary Public. They can also hear pardon requests. They manage and oversee the state’s 10-year highway plan and keep an eye on the state treasury, ensuring departments don’t spend more than permitted, or use funds for something else not approved, by the legislature. 

A councilor’s term is 2 years and is made up of both Democrats and Republicans at any given time. They also vote as needed.

Executive Councilor David Wheeler, R-Milford, is now in his 6th term. He is consistent in his votes against such issues as sex education and family planning funding. What he does is not vote during the meeting but gives the council’s recording secretary a list of his “no” votes after the meeting(s) which are then included in the minutes but not the information that he voted after the meeting had ended. 

In an interview with New Hampshire Public Radio on Feb. 23, Mr. Wheeler claimed it a “long-standing practice among councilors.” Yet, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office checked back through 2018 and found only Wheeler to have voted in that manner. Former councilors Congressman Chris Pappas, Colin Van Ostern and Andru Volinsky, who all served with Wheeler stated they never voted that way nor were aware of the practice. Current councilors Joe Kenney, Janet Stevens and Cindi Warmington were unaware of Wheeler’s voting practices, with Warmington now challenging it. Even Governor Sununu, who previously served 3 two-year terms, was unaware of voting by note after a meeting. 

John Formella, Attorney General, claimed the practice is long-standing and used for decades. If so, why did so many past and present council members know nothing about it? Formella stated Wheeler’s votes are included in the minutes and his manner of voting doesn’t violate the right-to-know law, requiring votes to be made public (unless secret ballot or nonpublic session). It is up to the councilors to put an end to this manner of voting, with at least Stevens and Warmington wanting to do so.

To read the entire article: 

Executive councilor defends voting practice amid transparency questions | New Hampshire Public Radio (nhpr.org)

On February 14, 2023, Gov. Sununu laid out his budget plan, with housing, education and licensing reform on the agenda. It was the last item that got my attention. As a licensed hairdresser for the last (gulp) 49 years and a former licensed EMT (18 years) who had to renew those licenses every other year, I was intrigued and curious as to what sort of reform the governor had in mind.

His proposal was to eliminate 34 licenses,14 regulatory boards and nearly 700 statutory provisions. Additionally, the proposal would give universal license recognition, allowing people who are licensed in another state to effortlessly become licensed in New Hampshire. The governor referred to it as, “. . .incentivizing working professionals across the nation to move to New Hampshire." 

Okay.

(For this article I have focused only on the licenses considered for repealing.) Repealed Licenses – As part of the effort to decrease barriers to workforce entry the following licenses and certifications are eliminated.

Apprentice Soil Scientist
Apprentice Wetland Scientist
Athlete Agent
Barbering, Cosmetology & Esthetics Booths within an already licensed facility
Cardiac Electrophysiology Specialist
Computed Tomography
Forester
Hawkers and Peddlers
Itinerant Vendor
Landscape Architect
Licensed Nursing Assistant
Limited X-ray Machine Operator
Magnetic Resonance Technologist
Medical Technician
Nuclear Medicine Technologist
Radiation Therapist
Radiographer
Radiologist Assistant
Shorthand Court Reporters
Soil Scientist
Sonographer
Temporary License-Cardiac Electrophysiology Specialist
Temporary License-Computed Tomography
Temporary License-Limited X-ray Machine Operator
Temporary License-Magnetic Resonance Technologist
Temporary License-Nuclear Medicine Technologist
Temporary License-Radiation Therapist
Temporary License-Radiographer
Temporary License-Radiologist Assistant
Temporary License-Sonographer
Temporary Permit-Veterinary Medicine
Temporary Registration-Medical Technician
Voice Court Reporter
Wetland Scientist

Then, I checked the NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification website which states the following: “. . .provides administrative support to over 40 professional Licensing Boards, Commissions and Councils responsible for licensing and regulating their professions within the State of New Hampshire. Through the NH Administrative Rules and Administrative Boards, the OPLC is able to fulfill its mission that ensures public safety and efficacy.”  

While I can perhaps see an “athlete agent,” “landscape artist” or a “voice court reporter” not needing a license, I do question the proposed licensing elimination of a “medical technician,” “licensed nursing assistant” or a “cardiac electrophysiology specialist.” 

For those who are unaware (as I was) a cardiac electrophysiologist is a cardiologist who has 2 extra years of training to learn heart rhythms and how to diagnose problems with them. Training to become certified as a cardiac electrophysiologist:

• A 4-year medical school program
• A 3-year residency in internal medicine
• Board certification in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine
• A 3-year training program to specialize in cardiology, followed by board certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine in cardiovascular disease
• Another 2 years of training for certification in clinical cardiac electrophysiology from the American Board of Internal Medicine

Gov. Sununu DOESN’T think a cardiac electrophysiologist specialist needs to be licensed? 

I would be remiss to let Black History Month go by without mentioning one of my political heroes, Kurt Schmoke, who was Mayor of Baltimore from 1987 to 1999. Mayor Schmoke was part of a remarkable generation of Black leadership that came out of Baltimore in that era, including the late Congressman Elijah Cummings and former NAACP Chairman and current Congressman, Kweisi Mfume.

I saw Mayor Schmoke speak once - at the time I was a high school student in Baltimore - and he described himself as a young man who "once had a great future." That was his go-to joke in every speech. He was well aware that he had dug his political grave through his opposition to the drug war.

In 1988, at the height of the Reagan-era moral panic and associated human tragedy of the "crack epidemic," Mayor Kurt Schmoke threw away his prepared notes prior to a speech before the U.S. Conference of Mayors and instead declared that the drug war makes no sense, that it is impossible to arrest and incarcerate our way out of the problem. 

He asked the Mayors to urge Congress to open a national discussion on treating substance use as a matter of public health rather than criminal justice.

This call was met with silence and scorn. Mayor Schmoke was deemed an apostate and disavowed even by his allies.

In advocating for the decriminalization of marijuana and medicalization of other drugs, Schmoke's ideas presaged the modern harm reduction movement. It took 35 years and an overdose crisis that broadly affected white people, but laws and attitudes have gradually been shifting toward what Mayor Schmoke was proposing.

Last year's landmark Medically Assisted Treatment Act, sponsored by NH's own Senator Maggie Hassan, is an example of how a public health approach to the problem of substance use can save lives.

Though the road from Mayor of Baltimore to Governor of Maryland is generally a well-worn path, Kurt Schmoke never made that jump. That said, it should be noted that the people of Baltimore twice saw fit to re-elect Kurt Schmoke as Mayor. He is currently President of the University of Baltimore.

"Dwarf Star" is a video game that my 16 year old son wrote and released on Steam, which is where PC games are bought and sold these days.

If you have a PC, a Steam account, and enjoy shooting alien spaceships and supporting young game developers, you should buy a copy. Only $5.

Calvin originally released this in November, after about 3 years of development. He's just put out an updated release includes that new features including "raid mode," for those who wish to have a less structured alien spaceship shooting experience, in edition to the original, plot-driven campaign.

No, it hasn't been selling well, but one hopes it will look great on a college application. I know I sure hadn't released a Steam game when I was his age.

Here's a promotional video he made for the game. Lucky for him, we have a spaceship set in our basement.

Once again, I am asking you to BUY A COPY OF MY KID'S GAME on Steam.

Rep. Jodi Newell's "Delegate Rules" bill, HB 392, passed the House via the consent calendar on Wednesday and is on to the Senate. The bill had previously passed unanimously in committee.

This bill "enacts procedures to choose, regulate, and bind delegates to an amendment proposing convention under Article V of the United States Constitution." 

Basically, the point of this is to ensure that, in the event that a amendment convention were called by two-thirds of State legislatures, a set of rules would be in place to ensure that New Hampshire's delegation to that convention is accountable to will of the people.

The possibility of a runaway Convention has been one of the concerns that has made some people hesitant about supporting calls for an Article V Convention, and is one of the reasons such a convention has never been called. The purpose of this bill is to help allay those concerns.

 As Rep. Newell explains: 

The legislation that we passed has to do with making sure that the delegates are elected democratically, making sure that they take an oath that says that yes, you are there to represent the people of New Hampshire and you are there to represent the concerns of those people and you are limited to that topic and if not at the end of the day you will be held accountable. Not only will you be recalled - and there is a process for you to be replaced in that situation - if you are a person who is going to a situation like that and you are with the intention of amending our fundamental document in a way that does not align with the people of New Hampshire then there will be consequences for you.

While this may sound like an obscure procedural thing, this is part of a broader effort to lay the groundwork for an amendment convention under Article V that would propose a 28th Amendment to the Constitution on the issue of campaign finance reform.

Rep. Newell, together with the bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Ellen Read (D-Newmarket and Newfields), was recently on "TYT's The Conversation," with Cenk Uygur to discuss this bill. Worth a watch!

Happy Residents' Day! 

Residents' Day is cool new holiday I just invented. It happens on the same day as President's Day but it has one fewer letters, and it celebrates all the awesome people we have here in the United States of America. 

Our Residents.

Who are the Residents? 

If you were born here and you live here you are a Resident. 

If you weren't born here and you live here you are a Resident. 

If you were born here and live abroad, call yourself a Resident if you want to. Why not?

Immigrants are Residents. If you've got a green card, you are a Resident. If you don't got a green card, you are also a Resident. 

If you hopped over the wall yesterday and slept the night with a rock beneath your head, bienvenue my fellow Resident.

Residents' Day doesn't care about your social standing, political viewpoint, or legal status. If you reside here you are a Resident, and this day celebrates you!

If you are dead you were a Resident, and Residents' Day values that, but mostly Residents' Day is a day to honor the living. 

George Washington was a famous and important Resident, but he is dead and so this isn't really about George Washington. We celebrate Residents Day alongside Presidents Day, not in place of it.

What Residents Day is about is broadening the celebration. Residents Day says we celebrate not just the Presidents, but all of the Residents. Including everybody.

While Presidents' Day celebrates political leaders our history, Residents' Day celebrates who we are right now.

Residents' Day says "I see you, fellow Residents, and you are awesome. Now go forward with love."

Happy Residents' Day!

The American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE), is an organization which fights the banning of books, a form of censorship. This censorship occurs when organizations, government officials or individuals have books removed from bookstores, libraries and/or schools. The reasons given for the banning or censorship is usually an objection to the ideas, themes or content (violence, sex or anything thought to be obscene) in a particular book. 

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is thought to be the first book to have been banned nationally, not just for its pro-abolitionist leanings, but it led to, oftentimes, heated debates on slavery. In 1873, Anthony Comstock, a United States postal inspector, an anti-vice activist and secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, persuaded Congress to pass the Comstock Law. This law made the delivery through the mail system (or by other means of transportation) of lascivious, lewd or obscene materials, illegal. It went so far as to stopping the mailing of any methods of public information about preventing conception, obtaining an abortion and preventing venereal diseases. Physicians pamphlets on reproduction, textbooks on anatomy, ANYTHING by Oscar Wilde along with The Canterbury Tales were thought to be too risqué to go through the mail. 

Comstock Law remained on the books until 1957, when Roth v The United States came before the Supreme Court. Samuel Roth, a writer and bookseller was convicted for mailing pornographic magazines to subscribers, and was imprisoned until 1961. Now, the legal system in America needed to rethink its definition of obscenity, again.

Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, how to define obscenity and how it connects to the First Amendment has been the argument of many censorship disputes. While it is now rare for a book banning case to be brought to the federal courts, challenges to books are still happening on state and local levels. 

Here in New Hampshire, HB 514 a bill which is “relative to the dissemination of obscene material by schools and institutions of higher learning” is being considered in the House Education Committee. This bill would require schools to put in place procedures for parents who take exception to materials they feel are inappropriate. Supporters of the bill see it as a  way of protecting children from materials which may be deemed obscene. Opponents see it as a form of censorship and claim these procedures are already in place.

Rep. Glenn Cordelli(R-Tuftonboro), who is the sponsor of the bill, claims obscenity laws in New Hampshire need to be stronger. This legislation would affect grades K-12. Some members of the committee asked if school employees would be subjected to criminal consequences.

HB514 is a bill still in committee and faces difficult hurdles before going to the full House for a vote, but is worth watching.

A hearing for HB 342, which would establish a blood lead level testing requirement for children entering day care and public schools, is being held at 2:00 today in front of the NH House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee.

Here in Keene, I've been pushing the City to work with Sullivan and Cheshire Counties to apply for grant funding available through HUD that would help homeowners and landlords address the lead paint hazard in older homes. In 2021, Sullivan County received $1.7 million to fund lead abatement projects in 60 homes, and expanding that program to Cheshire County is a huge opportunity to make our housing safer for the children to live there.

In December, I had this to say before a Keene City Council committee:

Looking at data provided by the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services, for recent years in Keene, every year there have been from 10 to 14 cases of children under 6 years old diagnosed with elevated blood lead levels – that is, cases detected where there is more than 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. That’s about half a classroom full of kids every year.

I would note that this is the number of cases detected – there are certainly undetected cases out there, as well as cases where children are affected by lead levels lower than that 5 microgram threshold. There is no safe level of lead in children’s blood.

HB 342 - sponsored by Rep. Nancy Murphy (D-Merrimack) and co-sponsored by Keene Rep. Jodi Newell, among others - would reduced the number of undetected cases of lead poisoning and provide better data with with to address this problem. 

The bill would help to make sure that all students in New Hampshire, except for the few who opt out for religious reasons, are tested for lead, which would enable children who test positive to get services they need to help overcome the challenges they may face due to lead poisoning. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the effects of lead poisoning in children can include damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, learning and behavior problems, and hearing and speech problem.

You can help by signing in remotely to the hearing on Thursday to support HB 342 in the House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee, or by sending an email to the committee at HHSEA@leg.state.nh.us