2024 will be a busy year for legislating.
New Hampshire lawmakers have already filed 1,036 requests for bills for the 2024 legislative session – hundreds more than in recent years. And because of legislative rules, each bill is guaranteed a hearing, a committee vote, and a vote on the House or Senate floor.
Some are destined for intense controversy and sustained headlines, others for a short and swift demise. But many are likely to fly under the radar.
Here are some of the more unique bills that lawmakers are facing in 2024.
Save our 603
On Oct. 31, Gov. Chris Sununu issued a Halloween warning: New Hampshire will need to move quickly to keep its grip on the cherished 603 area code. As the state’s population expands, the likelihood of the state needing to adopt a second area code has increased, and Sununu issued an executive order directing the department of energy to do what it can to reclaim unused numbers and prolong that date.
Next year, Senate President Jeb Bradley is hoping to add legislative muscle. Senate Bill 603 would urge the Department of Energy and the Public Utilities Commission “to promote and adopt telephone number conservation measures to the maximum extent allowed by law for area code 603.” Among the suggested methods in the bill: requiring that telecom providers share and distribute their lists of unused numbers so that they are better available to people getting new phone numbers.
From dogs to kangaroos
Dogs, rats, squirrels, monkeys, kangaroos, and horses have inspired several bills.
Companion animals could include kangaroos, small-tailed monkeys, raccoons, foxes, otters, and skunks under Republican-sponsored House Bill 1325. Companion animals are also the focus of House Bill 1117, which seeks to study ways to protect business owners from requests to accommodate them if they are untrained or “fraudulent.”
House Bill 1556 would eliminate the state requirement that dogs unvaccinated against rabies be muzzled in public. And dogs that attack humans or domestic animals two or more times in 12 months would have to be euthanized under House Bill 1173.
Should House Bill 1351 pass, adhesive rodent traps would be illegal to sell or use.
Horses would gain protections under House Bill 1182, a bipartisan measure that would make hoof soring, tail nicking, tail blocking, and gingering, which are done for horse showing, animal cruelty crimes.
Senate Bill 548 would take gray squirrels off the state’s list of game animals, thereby allowing them to be killed at any time. Currently they can be hunted between the start of September and the end of January.
New Hampshire v. New Hampsha’
Concord Democratic Rep. Eric Gallagher wants people to stop mispronouncing New Hampshire and Concord. His legislation, House Bill 1095, would extend the law governing the state beverage (apple cider), flower (purple lilac), rock (granite), and freshwater fish (brook trout) to include the phonetic pronunciation of the state and its capital.
A four-day work week for all
Rep. Ellen Read, a Newmarket Democrat, is proposing to require New Hampshire employers to offer a four-day work week for employees. House Bill 1668 would mandate that any employee who works over 32 hours in one week be paid at a time-and-half rate of overtime for each additional hour. The bill would also require that any employee who works more than 12 hours in one day be paid at twice the hourly rate for each additional hour.
In a fiscal note to the bill, the Department of Administrative Services, which oversees state employees, said that it couldn’t calculate the exact financial impact but that some agencies that operate 24/7 would need to hire more employees or pay more for overtime.
A move away from plastic
Plastic forks, knives, spoons, and coffee stirrers would be prohibited under House Bill 1207 unless a customer requests them. Condiment packets would also be banned unless requested. Sponsors describe the measure as an environmental protection bill, writing that those items “contribute to the 8,000,000 tons of plastic pollution that enter the ocean, while also contributing to the litter in our communities and in the waste stream that disproportionately burdens our towns and cities.”
A return to gold and silver
Some bills seek to help restore gold and silver as a method of currency. House Bill 1674, proposed by Rep. Keith Ammon, a New Boston Republican, would designate gold and silver as legal tender and require the state treasury to create a depository to securely store it.
And House Bill 1246 would allow employers to pay their employees’ wages in gold or silver – without a requirement that the employee request it.
A new choice in driver’s education
Sen. Timothy Lang, a Sanbornton Republican, has proposed a bill that would require the Department of Safety to create an alternate driver’s education program. Senate Bill 427 would allow those 16 and older to get a New Hampshire driver’s license if they take the state’s program. The Department of Safety has estimated it would need to hire 80 training specialists as well as other administrators, at a cost of about $6 million per year.
Restraints on treasure hunting
Some bills deal with school safety issues. Senate Bill 474, proposed by Sen. Carrie Gendreau, a Littleton Republican, would prohibit the ability to hunt for treasure with a metal detector on athletic fields or school grounds. The bill is intended to bar the practice “in areas that expose students to the risk of injury,” the bill states. And Senate Bill 327 would allow courts to bar people from attending any sporting event in the state for a set period of time if they are convicted of assault or harassment against sports officials or referees.
The war on cartoon beer labels
Sen. David Watters, a Dover Democrat, has filed a bill to rein in how alcohol manufacturers market beer and liquor on their packaging.
Senate Bill 335 prohibits alcohol labels that include “cartoons, toys, robots, fictional animals or creatures” and other imagery that could be enticing for children. The goal, the bill’s description states, is to restrict “the use of certain images and phrasing in alcohol packaging that are attractive to minors,” and the bill directs the New Hampshire Liquor Commission to develop rules to enforce that.
The bill has bipartisan support, with Republican Sen. Sharon Carson and Rep. Mark Pearson joining Democratic Sens. Lou D’Allesandro and Rebecca Perkins Kwoka in support. But others on both sides have raised skepticism.
“In the absence of actual studies, testimony or evidence to support claims that cartoons on beer cans harm kids or promote underage drinking, this bill seems likely to go flat,” wrote Rep. David Meuse, a Portsmouth Democrat, on the social media network X.
This story is courtesy of NH Bulletin under creative commons license. No changes have been made to the article.
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