Bill Review Training Session

The first of the Bill Review training sessions is scheduled for Wednesday, December 14 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester. This is a great opportunity for anyone who hasn’t done any bill reviewing yet to get involved and learn the process. For anyone who is a seasoned Bill Reviewer, this is a great chance to get a refresher course on the process. We would also like to encourage those of you who have done Bill Reviewing to come down and help us train, so we can get a head start on the hundreds of bills that lay before us.

The training session will teach you how to:

• Read the text of the bill,
• Decipher the intent of the bill,
• Debate the liberty points, and
• Score, grade, or rate the bill with the NHLA bill review checklist provided.

The purpose of Bill Reviewing is to identify early on those potentially high impact bills that will affect the liberty of New Hampshire citizens, positively or negatively. Once found, we can preemptively make a huge difference in the success or failure of the bills by calling or writing our Representatives and/or giving public testimonies as to why they should support or oppose such legislative proposals.

This is where the outcome of a bill is at its most vulnerable and where we need to do the greatest activism. Because once the Committee has completed its reviewing and recommendation process, the bill goes before the full House for a vote. And generally, the House votes in favor of the Committee’s recommendation.

However, in some cases, the more crucial bills may come out of Committee with a close minority/majority recommendation or a recommendation that is not in favor of liberty and these are the ones that will eventually make it onto the Gold Standard (our weekly publication hand delivered to all of the Representatives on House Session days). The Gold Standard is our last stand at informing the legislators of the pro- or anti-liberty aspects of the bill and our recommendation of Yea or Nay.

If interested in participating in the Bill Review training session and becoming a part of our Bill Review team, please email Jason at secretary@nhliberty.org.

Anyone interested in hosting a Bill Review training session, please contact Eileen at chair@nhliberty.org.

NHLA Board Elections

The NHLA is now holding elections for the positions of Political Director and Treasurer. Anthony Pugh and Joel Winters have been nominated for the position of Political Director. Steve Villee has be nominated for the position of Treasurer. The voting window for the NHLA board elections is open from November 14th until 11:59PM on November 24th. Your vote can be cast on the website by going to the link http://www.nhliberty.org/board/elections/2011/11/vote. You can also submit your vote by mail to us at PO Box 4241, Manchester, NH 03108-4241. If you do so, it must be received by 11/23/11 in order to be counted. Remember, you must be a paid member in order to participate in Board elections. To upgrade to either Full or Lifetime Membership, login to the website and click on Join/Renew link at the top right of the page.

The Political Action Director is responsible for, but not limited to: recruiting candidates for state, city and town offices; training candidates; endorsing candidates for office; determining campaign donations; determining the Legislator of the Year; providing training on the legislative process; providing training for town meetings. The Treasurer is responsible for, but not limited to: submitting monthly financial reports; fundraising (including the annual Liberty Dinner); timely deposit of all received funds and timely payment of all bona fide expenses; possession of inventoried NHLA materials (shirts, pins, membership applications, report cards, etc.). More details about these Board positions and the organization can be found here on our website.

Civic Action

Seasonal needs, as well as the October snow storm that caused week long power outages for many, have put a strain on local food pantries. In November, the NHLA will be using up to $250 in civic actions funds to match your donations to the Goffstown Network. By donating through the NHLA chip-in fund http://www.chipin.com/contribute/id/649a440c4b5fe993 by November 19th, your efforts toward resupplying a local food pantry will be doubled. For more information about the Goffstown Network and the communities they help support, please visit http://goffstownnetwork.org.

Civic Action is the branch of the NHLA that addresses this part of our mission statement: The New Hampshire Liberty Alliance is a non-partisan coalition working to increase individual freedom in New Hampshire. We do this by monitoring bills in the legislative sessions and encouraging private charity, a civil society, and citizen involvement. If you would like to get involved with Civic Action, volunteers with ideas and energy are encouraged to contact Vice-Chair Sandy Pierre at ViceChair@nhliberty.org

Spotlight on NH Political Television

The NHLA would like to spotlight several of the great liberty oriented TV programs that focus on New Hampshire politics. The first is the show "More Politically Alert" is hosted by Rep. Steve Vaillancourt who is one of only five state representatives to earn an A+ rating on the 2011 NHLA Liberty Rating. "More Politically Alert" airs on Manchester Public Television Services (Comcast Channel 23). The show is also available online at http://vimeo.com/channels/mpa.

The second show is "Capital Access" which is hosted by former NHLA board member Denis Goddard and Lydia Harman. In their own words "Capitol Access covers New Hampshire politics and political activism with a skeptical, feisty, flinty edge. The focus is generally on upcoming legislation, citizen involvement, the nature of government, and the New Hampshire constitution. Guests include state legislators, political activists, and people involved with nonprofit issues-based organizations." The show is available in areas throughout New Hampshire on cable access channels as well as online. For show times and past episodes, visit their website at http://nhcaptv.com.

Bill Alleman Acquitted of Wiretapping Charges

On the heels of the recent Glik Decision where the Federal First Circuit Courts of Appeals ruled that recording police officers in the discharge of their duties in public is protected by the First Amendment, Judge Edward Tenney acquitted Bill Alleman of wiretapping charges from a July 2010 traffic stop. In Judge Tenney's ruling he wrote "The fact that Officer Montplaisir may have been unwilling or unhappy being recorded does not make a lawful exercise of the defendant's First Amendment rights a crime." The NHLA was happy to be one of many organization and individuals that contributed to the legal defense fund that allowed Bill to follow through with this case in the courts. For more details on the decision and reflections from Bill and his attorney Seth Hipple please visit Bill's blog, Adventures in the Free State.

Liberty Forum

Tickets are on sale now for the 2012 Liberty Forum, New Hampshire's largest annual liberty-oriented convention! NHLA members and friends can get 10% off the cost of admission by registering with the code "NHLA2012". For more information visit the link http://freestateproject.org/libertyforum.

Holiday Shopping with Amazon.com

Are you planning do some of your upcoming Holiday shopping with Amazon.com? If so, keep in mind that one of the ways NHLA is funded is through the Amazon.com affiliate program. By clicking on the link http://amazon.nhliberty.org before you make your purchases at Amazon.com, a portion of what you pay will go directly to NHLA civic action fund without additional cost to you.

Help the NHLA Support Pro-Liberty Candidates with a Monthly Donation

The NHLA website has been updated to enable reoccurring monthly donations to be made to the NHLA Political Action Committee. PAC funds will go toward NHLA endorsed candidates for state office. Endorsements are based on candidate surveys and/or Liberty Rating scores from previous House incumbency voting records if available. The goal of a monthly donation is to start early in building up funds to support pro-liberty candidates come election time. Please visit http://www.nhliberty.org/campaign-fund to help the NHLA make an even bigger impact on future elections.

Board of Directors Term Limits

At the October 6^th Board meeting there was a discussion about whether having term limits for board of directors positions was beneficial if there were active volunteers willing to perform those duties but had already served two terms. The original intent of setting term limits was likely to bring in new perspectives to the NHLA and also prevent a small group of members from exerting too much control over the organization. The Board believes that it is important to get feedback from the NHLA membership before considering any term limit related changes to the bylaws. A discussion topic on the forum has been created specifically for your feedback. Section 3.5 of the NHLA bylaws covers term limits.

3.5 After the initial terms of the original Directors expire all terms shall be for a period of two years. Directors may serve no more than two consecutive terms on the Board, followed by a period of at least one year of non-service.

Bylaws Changes

The proposed bylaws changes that were listed in the October newsletter were approved at the November 3rd Board meeting by a vote of 6-0.

The full text of the bylaws change is below.

3.2 The Board will consist of seven Directors: a Chairman, a Director of Political Action, a Vice Chairman, a Director of Civic Action, a Director of Membership, a Director of Research, a Secretary and a Treasurer. Specific duties may be assigned to each Director by majority vote of the Board. Effective 08/15/08, the Director of Civic Action shall be replaced with the Vice Chairman. Effective at the end of the Vice Chairman's term in April 2013, or immediately in the case of a vacancy, the Vice Chairman shall be replaced with the Director of Civic Action.

3.5.1 Starting in May 2011 the term of office for each board position shall expire as follows: Odd years: April 30th: vice chairman, civic action, secretary; November 30th: political action, treasurer. Even years: April 30th: membership; November 30th: chairman, research.

3.8 The Directors may, at their option, elect a standing vice-chair from among themselves to fulfill the functions of the Chairman in the event of the Chairman's absence.

Article Four - Officers

4.3 The duties of the Vice Chairman shall include, but not be limited to: fulfilling the functions of the Chairman in the event of the Chairman's absence. Director of Civic Action shall include, but not be limited to: finding appropriate NH residents to receive financial assistance through our Civic Action Fund and scheduling charitable events throughout the year to bring non-governmental assistance to NH residents.

Jim Dodson of Liberty Books in Concord (75 Allison Street) hosts NHLA's monthly Board meetings. Please visit this treasure-filled store for books on history, economics, and politics, as well as an unrivaled collection of graphic novels and comic books. You may also visit Jim on the web at http://www.libertybooksnh.net/.

Get NHLA news and alerts fast by joining the NHLA group on Facebook.com. http://facebook.nhliberty.org

Help support the NHLA by making all your Amazon purchases through the NHLA/Amazon.com affiliate program. Go to http://www.nhliberty.org/books_and_videos and click on the Shop at Amazon.com! link.