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New Hampshire Legislative Advocacy
Legislative news from NH
February 2008 in Concord
The house voted to pass HB 717, this bill would provide willing communities with a template for creating a community services and care planning board. The advantage of having a municipal-sanctioned board is to give it authority to inventory all services and make recommendations to the municipality. The inventory could be used to coordinate with other communities for mutually needed services or to learn about successful programs in other towns. This bill is enabling and could be very useful to many communities as the aging population grows.
The house sent HB 265 to interim study. The majority of the house felt that with the enactment of SB 138, the legislature has put the funding and policies into place to offer high quality services to individuals with developmental disabilities and acquired brain disorders. The legislature strongly supported the funding and infrastructure improvements contained in SB 138 with a vote of 300-5. Referring HB 265 for Interim Study will insure that the issue of the waitlist is kept before the legislature through the end of this term.
The house continues to delay action on HB 40, relative to living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care and HB 57, relative to advance directives for durable powers of attorney and living wills. These will be voted on by the House on Wednesday January, 30th.
The house Health and Human Services committee voted to kill HB 1316, establishing a committee to study the use of mercury in childhood vaccines. The state epidemiologist told the committee that no vaccines for children in NH contain mercury. The vote was 17-0. The committee also voted to kill HB 1385, waiving medical records fees for persons applying for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Income (SSDI). The bill contained no limits on the number or volume of copies that could be requested, the number of requests that could be made, and required no verification of need. New Hampshire already has a law limiting the fees that may be charged for medical records. The vote was 14-4.
The senate Health and Human Services Committee voted to pass SB 466, relative to probate court jurisdiction over special needs trust. The vote was 4-0, this bill clarifies the circumstances under which probate court judges and district court justices may sit on either court.