State Feed: New Hampshire

Citizens' Rights Safe in Many States as State Legislatures End Sessions

Tue, 18 May 2010 14:23:59 -0400

Of the 45 states whose legislatures hold sessions in 2010, 27 of them have adjourned for the year, and 5 more will wrap up before the end of the month. Of the more than 80 bills dealing with the initiative and referendum process in various states, 51 of them would have reduced citizens’ initiative rights. Thanks to the work of activists in our coalitions, only 3 bills reducing citizen’s rights have passed and become law.

New Hampshire: Marriage measure goes to town meeting ballot

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:45:50 -0500

A petition asking the Legislature for a referendum to define “marriage” in the state Constitution is headed for the Town Meeting ballot after a special hearing of the Town Council on Feb. 4 that lasted barely five minutes. A law making same-sex marriage legal was passed by the Legislature and governor last year and went into effect Jan. 1.

Read the story from the Bedford Journal

Tax cap measure may be decided on tonight

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:32:51 -0400

A recommendation by the legal firm that represents the city likely will determine whether a tax cap question appears on the ballot this year or next. Real Roseberry, 78, a lifelong city resident, recently gathered more than three times the required signatures for a tax cap petition. But some councilors have doubts about the cap’s legality, citing a March ruling by a Merrimack County Superior Court judge that a proposed cap in Concord was unconstitutional because it violated the City Manager-City Council form of government. Somersworth has the same structure.

Two New Hampshire towns vote on school referendums

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:56:48 -0400

Voters in both Kittery and Eliot head to the polls today in municipal elections that include far-reaching measures in those towns.

Read the story from Seacoast Online

New Hampshire tax coalition wants voters to decide

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:16:23 -0400

“This isn’t so much about allowing a tax cap; this is a voting rights issue,” said Matt Murphy, director of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition. “Whether people in communities should be able to amend their charter through citizens’ initiatives and be able to vote on those amendments.”

Read the story from the Concord Monitor

House panel endorses finance reporting bill

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:43:45 -0500

A South Dakota House committee has endorsed a measure intended to make more organizations report where they get the money they use to influence the outcome of public votes on ballot measures.

The State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to approve HB1233, which says any organization that spends more than half its annual revenue to influence a ballot measure must file a campaign finance report disclosing where it got the money…. (READ MORE)