As we mentioned last week, it was announced that the statehouse would be closed to all legislators, staff and visitors through April 10. Yesterday, Governor Sununu issued a Stay-at-Home Order that directed all non-essential businesses to close by midnight tonight. As a result, the House Speaker and Senate President announced that the suspension of all legislative activities would be extended through May 4th. For your information, attached is the list of Essential Businesses.
Under the NH Constitution, the Legislature must complete the session by June 30. This will present significant challenges for the legislature to finish its work. This includes bill hearings and committee deliberations (work sessions and executive sessions where they vote on the bill) before a bill goes to the floor for a vote.
The House Speaker announced yesterday that they are exploring ways to be able to meet remotely, at least with committees. We expect more information on this in the coming weeks.
It’s also possible a special session will be called for – when that would happen is anyone’s guess. However, elections in November add another time challenge into the mix.
Lastly, NH has the largest and one of the oldest legislatures in the country. The NH Constitution does allow the Governor to change the location of the legislative session. This means he could identify a venue large enough to hold 400 members of the House while leaving a 10-foot buffer.
We continue to talk with legislators so that we are ready for any scenario. We will keep you posted as we get more information.