CONCORD – The New Hampshire Legislature returns for a one-day session Wednesday to take up 11 vetoes from Gov. John Lynch.
Abortion, medical malpractice reform, education tax credits, commercial identity protection and other issues hang in the balance as Republican legislative leaders, with a 3-1 advantage, try to act over the opposition of Lynch, the retiring, four-term Democrat.
A final outcome for some issues remains in doubt, notably the controversial bill that would require voters show a photo identification card in this fall’s elections.
Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, confirmed that the state Senate will be trying to pass a new bill to fix the part of the voter ID measure (SB 289) that concerns election officials and Secretary of State Bill Gardner.
Bradley said he’s hopeful the Senate and House of Representatives would suspend their rules, introduce and pass this new plan, changing the form voters have to sign under penalty of perjury if they don’t have a photo ID with them at the polls.
“We’ll see if there is enough consensus in the Senate and the House to make that change,’’ Bradley said.
In vetoing this bill, Lynch said it would be wrong to make voters sign an eligible voter affidavit as it asks many questions such as their past status as a non-U.S. citizen.
This form will cause clogged lines at the polls in the presidential election this November, Lynch warned.
Bradley said Senate Republicans want to replace that form with a challenged voter affidavit because voters could fill it out more quickly.
To become law, this new compromise would have to pass the GOP-led Legislature and Lynch would have to sign it.
“Since it was one of the things the governor brought up in his veto message, we would hope he would be supportive of it,” Bradley said. “There’s no guarantee.”
Indeed, Lynch raised other objections to the voter ID bill he vetoed last week.
He also criticized the part of the bill that would take student ID cards off the list of valid identification at the polls for elections after September 2013.
The number of acceptable identification cards would drop from seven for elections this fall to four next year under this bill.
Voter rights groups such as the League of Women Voters and Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire contend all voter ID laws discriminate against those least likely to have one with them – the elderly, low-income and college students.
On Tuesday, Democratic candidate for governor Maggie Hassan of Exeter urged lawmakers to uphold Lynch’s veto of tax credits for businesses that support scholarships of students who attend private or home schools.
“Republican leaders made cuts raising local property taxes and tuition on middle-class families, saying we couldn’t afford to support our public schools,” Hassan said. “Now they are planning to divert millions of dollars in taxpayer money to private schools. That is the wrong choice for New Hampshire.”
Hassan insisted any such education tax credit was a “flawed concept” because it diverts taxpayer money that should support public schools.
Charles Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, said House attendance would determine if this veto is overriden to make New Hampshire the 10th state to offer tax credits.
“We’re cautiously optimistic but if 15 of our supporters aren’t here, it could make all the difference,” Arlinghaus said.
In recent days, House and Senate GOP leaders made a push to overcome Lynch’s veto of legislation that would make New Hampshire the first state to offer victims of medical malpractice an optional, cash settlement to avoid a trial.
The House vote to pass this compromise (SB 406) three weeks ago was 220-141; that’s 21 votes shy of a two-thirds majority needed to win an override fight.
Lynch said the bill as written was badly flawed and would unfairly limit the rights of injured parties.
House Majority Leader Peter Silva, R-Nashua, said Tuesday that this tort reform would make medical malpractice more affordable for health care providers.
“We will pass it tomorrow,” he predicted.
Other vetoed bills to be decided Wednesday include whether to legalize medical use of marijuana for the seriously ill, to ban late-term abortions and to define as murder anyone who negligently or violently causes the death of a fetus that is more than 8 weeks old.
Kevin Landrigan can reached at 321-7040 or [email protected]. Also, follow Landrigan on Twitter (@Klandrigan).
Full Article: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/965835-196/voter-id-education-tax-credits-among-vetoes.html.
