NH Legislation Considering Marijuana, Speed Limit Increases And Potatoes

The elections are over and it is time for our elected officials to get to work.

Amherst Patch went through the current list of Legislative Service Requests (LSR) to see what bills are being considered by the NH General Court. These are the first notice the community has that a legislator is considering introducing a bill. 

There are little details to these bills as it is early in the process. When the text of the bill becomes available, the list of active bills will be updated to refer to the bill

Here are some of the more interesting bills being considered by our New Hampshire lawmakers:

• Rep. John O’Connor (R) is sponsoring a bill to establish the potato as the state vegetable.
• Rep. Jacqueline Cali-Pitts (D) is sponsoring a bill relative to coin-operated rides.
• Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (D) and Rep. Donald LeBrun (R) are both sponsoring bills relative to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Vaillancourt is also considering raising certain speed limits to 75 mph.
• Speaking of marijuana, Rep. Michael Garcia (D) is sponsoring a bill prohibiting the designation of industrial hemp as a controlled substance.
• Charles Weed (D) is sponsoring a bill to increase the beer tax in New Hampshire.
• Charles Townsend (D) is sponsoring a bill relative to the availability of hand sanitizer to patrons at restaurants. He is also considering a bill that prohibits certain state employees from wearing fragrances
• In honor of New Hampshire’s only U.S. president, Dick Patten (D) is sponsoring a bill to establish Franklin Pierce Day.

Some Amherst representatives are also working on bills for 2013:

• Rep. Robert Rowe (R) is sponsoring a bill relative to attorneys' fees for indigent defendant parents in termination of parental rights cases. He is also sponsoring a bill relative to NH E-Court Project fees.
• A bill relative to town library and cemetery budgets in towns that have adopted official ballot voting is currently sponsored by Rep. Peter Hansen (R). He is also considering a bill relative to the land use change tax.

Amherst could be affected by some of the upcoming bills on the list. Mark Warden (R ) is sponsoring a bill relative to wine manufacturers. There are no further details on the bill at the moment, but this could have an effect on the newly opened Labelle Winery location in Amherst.

The Amherst Historic Village could be affected by a bill relative to property taxation of qualifying historic buildings from David Boutin (R).

A full list of Legislative Service Requests can be found on the NH General Court website.