At this time of year the NH Legislature considers bills. A bill goes before a committee, the public has a chance to give input on it, then the committee votes whether to send the bill to the House or Senate for a vote by the full body, or whether it’s Inexpedient to Legislate (translation: the committee kills the bill).
Committees schedule a hearing for each bill before it votes. Members of the public can show up at the hearing and speak about the bill, for or against and why, or they can submit online whether they Support or Oppose the bill, and optionally, they can submit written comment as to why.
The online submission must happen before midnight on the day the bill has its hearing.
At the Jan. 22 Coffee Chat, we discussed some of the bills currently before the NH legislature, how to submit public comment on bills, and the importance of doing so (it does matter!). We talked about whether Third Act NH should forward news about climate-related bills to its membership, as we receive it from the organizations tracking them. Sometimes, though, even these organizations only learn the hearing date a few days ahead, leaving only a couple of days to get the word out and for folks to get comment submitted. So we decided it was better to tell Third Actors how to get these notifications directly.
Sign up to get a weekly email from NH Network, or go to its website. This group notifies you of upcoming climate-related bills that need public comment, including the links to submit online, some background about the bill, and whether to Support or Oppose. Writing a comment is not required; you can just submit Support or Oppose. But if you can put in a few words as to how the bill will impact you, that always helps.
NH Network’s online info on what bills are coming up is here.
Sign up to receive NH Network’s weekly email here. Scroll down (noting all the cool things happening!) until you get to Join the NH Network (for individuals).
Open Democracy tracks bills related to achieving political equality for all, which is directly related to Third Act NH’s Uplift Democracy campaign. See here Open Democracy’s weekly actions regarding bills in the legislature.
Thank you for participating in local democracy on behalf of a healthy climate!