Latest news with #GovKellyAyotte
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill allowing 'social districts' in NH communities awaits governor's signature
A bill on Gov. Kelly Ayotte's desk awaiting her signature is creating quite a buzz around the state. HB467 would allow cities and towns in New Hampshire to establish 'social districts' — areas where people are allowed to purchase alcohol at local bars and restaurants, then take it with them in a to-go cup while moving through designated 'sip and stroll' areas. State Rep. Bill Boyd, R-Merrimack, told members of the state Senate Commerce Committee he modeled HB 467 after legislation in North Carolina, working closely with Chief Mark Armaganian, director of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission's Division of Enforcement and Licensing. 'It's a local-option bill,' Boyd said. 'Should this be enacted, if communities want to have a social district, they can do so, and they can work with liquor enforcement and their local law enforcement to create a plan that makes the best sense for that community.' Voters would have to approve creation of a social district at town meeting or a city election. Local officials would determine the boundaries of the social district, then work with the liquor commission and the state to be able to make sure that all requirements under state law are met and develop a working plan to ensure safety in the district. Brodie Deshaies, a legislative advocate with the New Hampshire Municipal Association, said the association supports the bill. 'We've had members reach out in the past and contact us about how they could set up a process like this,' Deshaies said. 'There was nothing that currently permitted towns to adopt these types of districts or to allow people to carry open containers between businesses that are all in close vicinity of each other. 'We view this as a great private/public partnership, and the state helping fulfill its role to help create guidelines — or guardrails — along that process.' Gauging interest It's unclear how interested businesses in places like Manchester are in establishing social districts — at least at this time. Owners of several downtown businesses along Elm Street seemed indifferent about the concept when quizzed this past week. Jodie Nazaka, Manchester's economic development director, said her department doesn't have a position either for or against HB 467. 'I haven't had any businesses or aldermen express interest in establishing this type of district in Manchester,' Nazaka said in an email. 'If there were general interest from business owners in the downtown area, we would certainly look into the merits of the concept.' Nazaka said she has seen social districts successfully implemented in other areas of the country, including Raleigh, North Carolina, which she experienced last summer. 'There are definitely rules and restrictions associated with these districts, so they're not as unrestricted as some might imagine, like Bourbon Street in New Orleans or the Las Vegas Strip,' Nazaka said. 'I'm interested in seeing where this conversation may lead. For now, at least to my knowledge, there isn't much interest in pursuing this in Manchester.' Boyd said communities like Raleigh and Savannah, Georgia, have had 'tremendous success' with social districts. 'There's so many different types of social districts that exist now today, in Georgia and North Carolina and Michigan, the creativity as to what can happen as a result of this particular concept can only benefit the economic development of a particular community that seeks to create it,' Boyd said. Boyd said Tuscan Village in Salem has its own social district, which operates on private property, but they worked closely with Armaganian and the liquor enforcement team to come up with something that makes sense for the site. 'Government-sponsored drinking' Not everyone loves the idea of social districts. Bob Bevill of Merrimack, a justice of the peace in Hillsborough County, submitted testimony via email opposing the bill, calling it 'government-sponsored 'pub-crawling'' that will create an enforcement burden on towns, could increase liability premiums for some businesses, and provides 'absolutely no benefit to the taxpayers.' 'Based on similar legislation from North Carolina, these 'zones' would allow for specially-marked alcoholic beverage cups to be transported out of the bars and restaurants' where people 'may freely walk from place to place carrying their alcoholic beverages in public,' Bevill writes. 'These cups would be 'containers (that) clearly displays a logo or some other mark that is unique to the social district in which it will be consumed.' Hence, government-sponsored drinking.' Bevill asked who would be responsible for determining if a customer has been overserved in a social district. 'In most establishments, it is the waitstaff or barkeep who has a running tab and knows exactly how much alcohol has been purchased,' Bevill writes. 'But between zone businesses? If someone has too much to drink and kills a family, do we apportion the damages against all of the merchants in the social district? Or do we have to investigate which establishment served them last?' Margaret Konze of Pembroke was short and to the point on the subject. 'We don't need more public drunkenness in New Hampshire.' Drew Cline, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, spoke before the Senate Commerce Committee in support of the bill. He said he often visits his hometown of Hickory, North Carolina, which has a downtown social district. In the past, it was 'always the same thing, looking around at the vacant storefronts,' Cline said. 'Last year I went back, and I am not exaggerating, there is not a single vacant storefront in downtown Hickory, North Carolina. In the entire downtown. 'Hickory is a mill town, it was a textile and furniture manufacturing town — this might sound familiar to a lot of people in New Hampshire — and not a single vacant storefront.' pfeely@
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The week ahead: Senate budget writers sharpen pencils, members tackle social agenda
While Senate budget writers are busy every day as they begin to make final decisions about a two-year spending plan, the members of the House of Representatives and state Senate must tackle a variety of social issues — everything from parental rights, clearing a path to receive Ivermectin without a prescription and segregating locker rooms, sports teams and jails by biological sex. The actions could deliver one big victory for Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who has made it one of her top priorities to sign a bill that enshrines the right of parents to ask and get answers from educators and others about discussions their children might have had including on matters of sexuality and gender identity. To do so, she'll need to survive what is shaping up as a bitter battle with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England that claims that the House-Senate GOP rewrite of the bill would deny minors access to birth control without their parents' consent. Reps. Debra DeSimone and Jay Markell, both R-Atkinson, co-authored the rewrite (SB 72 amended) with the support and collaboration of Sen. Timothy Lang, R-Sanbornton, who authored the original bill. 'No children should ever be prescribed any medical procedures of medication without parental consent to protect all children from undue and unnecessary harm by parental knowledge and information provided concerning family history,' DeSimone said. Rep. Heather Raymond, D-Nashua, said the change would run counter to federal law and threaten the state's status of having one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the nation. 'The amended bill would strip the rights of teenagers to access birth control or receive pre- and postnatal care without written parental permission,' Raymond said. 'In states like Texas which now require parental permission for birth control, teen pregnancy rates have increased along with the rates of maternal and infant death.' Ivermectin started as a treatment for animal parasites, but in 2015 its creators won the Nobel Prize for the success in treating similar conditions in humans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a viral sensation as many citizens went to feed stores to purchase the drug for them to deal with that virus. Rep. Linda McGrath, R-Hampton, who worked in the pharmacy field for decades, said it's time to lift pressures off doctors and pharmacists who want to dispense the drug by creating with the amendment a standing order that a patient can get it without a prescription. 'There have been tremendous efforts to block doctors from prescribing and pharmacists from filling this medication. Doctors have even lost their medical license for prescribing Ivermectin,' McGrath said. 'This will be totally voluntary for all health care providers who wish to participate.' Rep. Lucy Weber, D-Walpole, said giving Ivermectin such a lofty status is inappropriate given it's now done only in 'extremely limited' cases, such as smoking cessation, Narcan and EpiPens. She warned passing the bill could cause a stampede of other drug-makers seeking the same benefit. 'Consider the chaos when the manufacturers of the thousands of other medications on the market propose similar standing orders for their medications,' Weber warned. House Democrats objected to tacking the Ivermectin matter to the original bill (SB 119) the Department of Health and Human Services proposed to save $9 million a year by allowing it to dispense the cheaper drug to Medicaid patients even if that's the brand name once drug rebates have discounted that price. HHS officials also sought in its bill the same 'standing order' for 'over-the-counter medications and supplies' in the Medicaid program. The House GOP amendment took out the latter provision. Segregation on biological sex On Thursday, the Senate is expected to embrace the bill (HB 148) from House Speaker Pro Tem Jim Kofalt, R-Wilton, on segregating by biological sex. 'The passage of HB 148 is a critical step toward safeguarding privacy, fairness, safety, and respect for all Granite Staters. This legislation permits schools, businesses, prison officials and others to develop common-sense rules to govern the use of bathrooms, locker rooms, and correctional facilities,' Kofalt said. 'By upholding sex-based classifications in sports, HB 148 also preserves the safety and integrity of women's athletics by permitting schools to adopt policies that align with biological reality. The bill will also help safeguard federal funding for our public schools, colleges, and universities.' Senate Democrats will surely join their House colleagues to oppose this bill, claiming that it unfairly targets and stigmatizes transgender individuals, but they appear to be lacking the numbers to stop it. 'This bill would restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth by overriding decisions made by doctors and parents,' House Democrats said in a statement last month. Last year, former Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed an identical bill questioning if it could come in conflict with the anti-discrimination law on gender identity that he signed in 2018 and over concerns what segregating in prisons might do to the tension behind the walls. On a related matter, the House Education Policy and Administration Committee will vote on whether to support a Senate-passed plan that would restrict sports to members of the same biological sex (SB 211). The Senate is also expected to recommend killing two popular House-passed bills. Rep. Jonah Wheeler, D-Peterborough, has championed one to annul the convictions of all offenders for possession of cannabis offenses (HB 196). The other measure (HB 387) from Rep. Janet Wall, D-Madbury, would ban the release of 'lighter-than-air' balloons into the atmosphere carrying a fine of $250 for the first offense and $500 if there's a second. klandrigan@
