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State Legislative Tracker: Vote over state raptor turns ugly in New Hampshire

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March 23, 2015

Edited by Joel Williams
This week’s tracker includes a look at a field trip to the New Hampshire State Legislature gone awry, a resignation over an ethics investigation in New Mexico and a potential bill to restrict the filming of police officers in Texas.

Weekly highlight

  • New Hampshire: A field trip to the state House by a group of students from Hampton Falls not only led to a harsh lesson about the legislative process, but also resulted in controversy when a state representative evoked abortion during a debate. Fourth-graders from Lincoln Akerman School visited on March 12 after drafting House Bill 373, aimed at declaring the red tail hawk as the state raptor; the bill passed out of the House Environment and Agriculture Committee by a 10-8 vote earlier this month.[1] With the students looking on from the gallery, the bill went up for floor debate to some displeasure. Christy Bartlett (D) pleaded that "consideration be given to more pressing matters... during our budget year." John Burt (R) joked that if the House kept taking up similar bills, it would end up declaring a "state hot dog." Peter Bixby (D) disagreed, citing the legislature's constitutional duty to promote education; he argued that "fostering education in this way is in fact a very worthy use of our time.”[2] Warren Groen's (R) comments had the most far-reaching effect. Speaking about the hawk and its prey, the Republican from Rochester commented, "It grasps them with its talons then uses its razor sharp beak to basically tear it apart limb by limb, and I guess the shame about making this a state bird is it would serve as a much better mascot for Planned Parenthood." The bill failed by a vote of 160-133.[1] In a letter to the Portsmouth Herald published last Thursday, one parent criticized the legislators' treatment, particularly Groen's, for "expanding the vocabulary of [the children] to include abortion related terms." The parent said that the students later asked about the meaning of Planned Parenthood.[3] After news of the bill's stoppage spread, Groen defended his statement to NH1, saying, "Every time we're in session, the gallery is open and there are children in the gallery. So I don't know, should we limit free speech? Or should we limit who goes in the gallery?" The class teacher, James Cutting, agreed with the parent: "Some [comments] were just really inappropriate given that there was a fourth grade class in the audience there in the gallery along with their families."[4]
  • New Mexico: On March 14, 2015, New Mexico Sen. Phil Griego (D-39) resigned, one week before the end of this year's legislative session. Griego resigned in the wake of an ethics investigation by an interim legislative ethics committee.[5] The subject of the investigation was Griego's involvement in a 2014 real estate deal in which the legislature approved the sale of a state-owned building. Not long after that, Griego said he was contacted by the building's buyer and was made broker of the building.[6] He reportedly made a $50,000 commission on the sale.[7] When asked about the property deal last year, Griego defended his actions, telling the Albuquerque Journal, "I didn’t feel there was an ethical problem when I did the deal. We were already out of the session. I didn’t feel I was doing anything wrong."[8] The state's Constitution prohibits lawmakers from financially benefiting from any contract passed by the legislature during their term in office.[8] According to the New Mexico Political Report, a Senate member said that Griego had two options when the ethics investigation became public: "[t]he choice was resignation or a possible vote on removal from office."[9] Griego's replacement in the state Senate will be chosen by Gov. Susana Martinez (R). The six counties — Santa Fe, San Miguel, Lincoln, Bernalillo, Torrance and Valencia — that make up District 39 must first submit a nominee to Martinez before a new senator can be chosen.[8] She is expected to appoint a Republican or a conservative Democrat to serve out the remainder of Griego’s four-year term, which expires in 2016.[5] In 2013, Martinez appointed Republican Vickie Perea to fill a vacancy left in the wake of the death of former Rep. Stephen P. Easley, a Democrat. Democrats regained control of the seat in the 2014 general election.[7]
  • Texas: A new bill filed in the Texas House of Representatives by Rep. Jason Villalba (R-114) would make it illegal for anyone to film, record, photograph or document the police while standing within 25 feet of an officer performing official duties, unless he or she is a member of the news media with an FCC license.[10] House Bill 2918 amends Section 38.15(1) of the Texas Penal Code, which stipulates that it is a crime for anyone who “interrupts, disrupts, impedes, or otherwise interferes with a peace officer while the peace officer is performing a duty or exercising authority imposed or granted by law.”[11] The 25-feet rule is extended to 100 feet if the person filming the officer is armed.[12] Critics of the bill claim that the current language of the bill would not grant an exception for independent journalists or bloggers, and possibly even online news outlets.[11] Supporters, including the chief of police in Lubbock, argue that the bill is simply common sense that will make communities safer without affecting police accountability.[10] If enacted, violations of the law would result in a Class B Misdemeanor that carries up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.[10]
The bill, however, may violate a 2011 First Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Glik v. Cunniffe, which found that the First Amendment gives the right for private citizens to record audio and video of public officials in a public setting.[13] When confronted with this, Villalba responded on Twitter that his bill would not prohibit filming but is instead aimed at keeping police safer and not reducing accountability. Villalba's subsequent tweets challenged critics of the bill to vote him out of office, going so far as to say, "I stand with the cops who keep my family safe. Don't like it? Find me an opponent. #Please"[13]

Sessions

Regular sessions

See also: Dates of 2015 state legislative sessions
Click here to see a chart of each state's 2015 session information.

Currently 42 out of 50 state legislatures have convened their 2015 session. Seven states have adjourned their 2015 legislative session.

The following states have convened their 2015 regular session:[14]

The following states have adjourned their 2015 regular session:[15]

2015 Legislative Elections

See also: State legislative elections, 2015

A total of seven of the 99 chambers will hold state legislative elections on November 3, 2015.

There are seven chambers in four states with elections in 2015:

The New Jersey Senate also typically holds elections in odd years, but all members were elected to four-year terms in 2013 and are not up for election again until 2017.

Of 1,972 state senate seats in the country, 131 are up for re-election in November 2015, and 407 of the country's 5,411 state house seats are up for re-election. Altogether, 538 of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats are up for re-election on November 3, 2015.

Primary Information

The state legislative filing deadlines and primary dates are as follows:

Filing Deadlines

Primary Dates

Special Elections

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See also: State legislative special elections, 2015

There is one special election scheduled this week in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 170

See also: Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2015

Martina White (R) defeated Sarah Del Ricci (D) in the special election on March 24.[20][21][22]

The seat was vacant following Brendan Boyle's (D) election to Congress.[23]

A special election for the position of Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 170 was called for March 24. Candidates were nominated by their parties rather than through primaries.[23]

Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 170, Special Election, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngMartina White 55.8% 3,565
     Democratic Sarah Del Ricci 44.2% 2,820
Total Votes 6,385
March 24 Special election candidates:
Democratic Party Sarah Del Ricci
Republican Party Martina White

Recent election results

March 10, 2015

☑ Maine House of Representatives District 93

See also: Maine state legislative special elections, 2015

Anne "Pinny" Beebe-Center (D) defeated James Kalloch (R), Ron Huber (G) and Shawn Levasseur (L) in the special election on March 10.[24][25][26]

The seat was vacant following Elizabeth Dickerson's (D) resignation on January 13, 2015, to move to Colorado.[27]

A special election for the position of Maine House of Representatives District 93 was called for March 10. Candidates were nominated by parties rather than chosen in primaries.[24]

Maine House of Representatives, District 93, Special Election, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngAnne Beebe-Center 52.9% 915
     Republican James Kalloch 44.5% 770
     Green Independent Ron Huber 2% 34
     Libertarian Shawn Levasseur 0.6% 11
Total Votes 1,730
March 10 Special election candidates:
Democratic Party Anne "Pinny" Beebe-Center Green check mark transparent.png
Republican Party James Kalloch
Green Party Ron Huber
Libertarian Party Shawn Levasseur

Looking ahead

Upcoming special elections include:

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 NH1, "NH lawmakers brutally kill 4th-graders' bill in front of them," March 19, 2015
  2. ↑ CBS, "N.H. Lawmakers Promptly Reject Bill Proposed By Fourth Graders," March 19, 2015
  3. ↑ Seacoastonline.com, "LAS fourth-graders deserved better treatment by House members," March 19, 2015
  4. ↑ NH1, "State Rep defends comments on 4th graders' bill," March 19, 2015
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 koat.com, "Sen. Phil Griego resigns mid-session," accessed March 20, 2015
  6. ↑ abqjournal.com, "Sen. Phil Griego resigns from NM Senate," accessed March 20, 2015
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 sfreporter.com, "UPDATED: Santa Fe County Balks at Gov.'s Request on New Senator," accessed March 20, 2015
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 abqjournal.com, "Sen. avoids possible censure by resigning," accessed March 20, 2015
  9. ↑ New Mexico Political Report, "Griego resigns from Senate," accessed March 20, 2015
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Victoria Price, Everything Lubbock, "LPD Sounds Off on Bill to Ban Recording Police," March 16, 2015
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sarah Rumpf, Breitbart, "Texas Rep. Villalba Files Bill that Criminalizes Bloggers, Citizens Filming Cops," March 13, 2015
  12. ↑ Andy Campbell, Huff Post: Politics, "Texas Bill Would Make Recording Police Illegal," March 13, 2015
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Scott Kaufman, Raw Story, "Texas GOP lawmaker: Vote me out if you don’t like my bill that makes filming the police a crime," March 13, 2015
  14. ↑ Stateside Associates, "Session Calendar 2015," accessed March 16, 2015
  15. ↑ Stateside Associates, "Session Calendar 2015," accessed March 16, 2015
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Elections," accessed January 2, 2015
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 New Jersey Department of Elections, "2015 Primary Election Timeline," accessed February 2, 2015
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Virginia State Board of Elections, "2015 November Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  20. ↑ politicspa.com, "HD-170: Kaplan Passes on Third-Party Run," January 28, 2015
  21. ↑ politicspa.com, "BREAKING: HD-170: White Wins Special Election," March 24, 2015
  22. ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "Special Election - 170th Legislative District," accessed July 21, 2015
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Politics PA, "HD-170: Special Election to Fill Boyle’s Seat Scheduled for March 24th," January 12, 2015
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Green Party Watch, "Maine Greens nominate State Rep candidate for special election," February 10, 2015
  25. ↑ maine.gov, "Official Results for Special Election State Representative District 93," accessed April 8, 2015
  26. ↑ Portland Press Herald, "Rockland Democrat wins House seat in special election," March 10, 2015
  27. ↑ Bangor Daily News, "Rockland-area House seat could be vacant for few months," January 13, 2015
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