HB 1136: "AN ACT relative to special state elections."

additional commentary by Timothy Horrigan; January 13, 2012 & January 17, 2012

To my surprise this bill actually passed, although I had to amend it:

I am introducing two bills this session (2012). This one is much less interesting than HB 1183 ("AN ACT relative to access to the galleries in the general court.") HB 1136simply shortens the timetable for special elections, which under a law which I helped pass in 2010, now take 4 to 6 months from the time the incumbent resigns till the time he or she is replaced. (My bill actally just puts the law back the way it was before 2010.)

HB 1136 – AS INTRODUCED

2012 SESSION

12-2170

03/09

HOUSE BILL 1136

AN ACT relative to special state elections.
SPONSORS: Rep. Horrigan, Straf 7
COMMITTEE: Election Law

ANALYSIS

This bill changes scheduling requirements for certain special elections.

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

12-2170

03/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve

AN ACT relative to special state elections.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Nominations for Special State Elections. Amend RSA 655:81 to read as follows:

655:81 Nomination of U.S. Representative, Executive Councilor, State Senator and Representative to the General Court. The nomination of candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives or for the executive council or for the state senate or for representative to the general court for special elections shall be accomplished through the holding of special election primaries. The filing of candidates for such primaries and all other matters connected with such primaries shall be the same as for primaries before a state general election except that:

I. The special election shall be held on [a] the Tuesday not less than [131] 80 nor more than [145] 87 days following the day that the governor and council declare that there shall be a special election; provided, however, that if one or more municipalities where a special election for state representative will be held have a regularly-scheduled election occurring between [131] 80 and 180 days following the day that the governor and council declare that there shall be a special election, the governor and council shall set the date of the election to coincide with the regularly-scheduled election if a majority of the towns or wards, as represented by the city, jointly request that day; if towns or wards, as represented by the city, request that the special election coincide with regularly-scheduled elections occurring on different dates, the election shall be held on [a] the Tuesday not less than [131] 80 nor more than [145] 87 days following the day that the governor and council declare that there shall be a special election; and

II. [The filing period shall start on the Monday following the date on which the governor and council declare that there shall be a special election and shall end at 5:00 p.m. on the Friday of that week] The time limits in RSA 655:14 shall be changed to not more than 43 days nor less than 36 days prior to the primary; and

III. Under RSA 655:15, the official with whom state representative candidates shall file shall be the secretary of state, except that a state representative candidate may file with the appropriate town or city clerk under RSA 655:15 or with the secretary of state during the first Monday and Tuesday only of the filing period in towns and cities in which the clerk's office is open on one or both of those days, in which case the town or city clerk shall forward each declaration of candidacy to the secretary of state on the same day on which the declaration is filed; and

IV. The primary shall be held [63] 34 days prior to the special election; and

V. Supplementary primary petitions may be filed as needed [no later than 5:00 p.m. on the last day of the filing period] not less than 36 days before the primary; and

VI. The deadline for filing nomination papers shall be no [later than 5:00 p.m. on the day set for the primary] more than 34 days prior to the special election; and

VII. The notice of the primary in RSA 655:11 shall be prepared by the secretary of state and distributed to the town and city clerks as soon as practicable after the setting of the date for the special election; and

VIII. Under RSA 655:12, clerks shall post notices of special election primaries as soon as possible after they are received; and

IX. The names of all candidates for a party nomination at a special election primary shall be printed in alphabetical order on the ballot according to the alphabetization procedure established in RSA 656:5-a; and

X. The publication of the result provided in RSA 659:89 shall not be required; and

XI. The deadline for any candidate to request a recount pursuant to RSA 660:7 shall be [5:00 p.m. on the day after the election] 3 days from the day of the primary.

2 Uncontested Primary. Amend RSA 655:82 to read as follows:

655:82 Uncontested Primary. In the event that no party has more than one candidate file, the primary election shall not be conducted. In such a case, the special election shall be held on the day previously fixed as the day for the holding of the special primary election. The deadline for candidates to file nomination papers pursuant to RSA 655:40 through RSA 655:45 shall be 32 days prior to the rescheduled special election date.

3 Vacancies; State Representative. Amend RSA 661:8, III to read as follows:

III. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph II, if a vacancy occurs in the office of state representative in a district comprised of a city ward or wards, a request to hold the primary and special elections on the same dates as the city's biennial primary and regular elections may be submitted to the governor and council by the governing body of the city. If so requested, the governor and council shall declare the vacancy not less than [63] 50 days prior to the date of the city's primary election. The filing period shall be held not more than [57] 41 days nor less than [50] 34 days prior to the primary election. The provisions of RSA 655:81, III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI shall apply to elections held pursuant to this paragraph.

4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.





Testimony in Favor of HB 1136

AN ACT relative to special state elections.

Rep. Timothy Horrigan; January 24, 2012


In 2010, the House Election Law committee considered a 33-page bill, HB 1535-FN, which eventually became law without much fuss, although we made several amendments to it along the way. Chapter Law 317:11 was one of the many changes caused by this bill: it significantly slowed down the timetable for special elections. Previously, special elections took place on a Tuesday between 80 and 87 days after the Governor and Executive Council called for an election, unless there was a regularly-scheduled election taking place between 131 and 180 days. (The governor and council can only call for a special election after an effected municipality formally submits a petition.) A primary, if needed, would be held five weeks before the general election. HB 1535-FN slowed the special election timetable: the special election is now scheduled on a Tuesday not less than 131 or more than 145 days after the issuance of the "Precept for a Special Election," and the primary (if needed) is 9 Tuesdays before the special election.

This bill, as introduced, would go back to the old timetable for special elections for the offices of US Representative, Executive Councilor, State Senator and State Representative. That is basically the entire list of offices for which special elections might be held, with the exception of county, municipal and school-district offices. If the Governor's office becomes vacant, Part 2nd Article 49 stipulates that the President of the Senate (or the next official in the line of succession) shall serve as Acting Governor, with no special election being held. A special election for Senator is impossible under current law because RSA 661:5 stipulates:

Finally, here is a list of the special elections held under the current schedule, showing how long it took to elect the new representatives after the incumbents resigned. Even though my party (the Democrats) probably benefited from these delays in two cases, I still think the delay is unwarranted. During the current debate over redistricting, we have been reminded how important it is for communities and voters to have full representation in the people's house. The people of Hillsborough Districts 3 & 4, Strafford District 3 and Rockingham District 14 were denied full representation for four to five months. Hillsborough 10 won't get its full complement of representatives for six months after Mike Brunelle's resignation.


District

Incumbent

Left

Primary

Primary Days

Special

Special Days

Winner

Hills 4

Bob Mead

12/02/10



05/17/11

166

Jennifer Daler

Straf 3

Martin Harty

03/13/11

06/07/11

86

08/09/11

149

Bob Perry

Hills 3

Robert Huxley

04/01/11



09/02/11

154

Peter Leishman

Rock 14

Gary Wheaton

04/13/11

07/05/11

83

09/06/11

146

Kevin Janvrin

Rock 5

Ken Gould

08/09/11



???


?

Hills 10

Mike Brunelle

08/21/11

12/20/11

121

02/21/12

184

?


(In case you are wondering, Peter Sullivan won the Hillsborough 10 special election on February 20, 2012 and was sworn in on March 7. No special election was ever held in Rockingham 5, since the only municipality in the district, the Town of Derry, never asked for one.)



Here is what actually passed and signed into law. I was one of the few Democrats to get anything passed in 2012. The new law will be used right away, since two members, both Democrats, didn't even make it to Organization Day on December 5, 2012. Bob Thompson (formerly) of Manchester moved out of state, and Stacie Laughton of Nashua resigned:

CHAPTER 26

HB 1136 – FINAL VERSION

15Feb2012… 0459h

2012 SESSION

12-2170
03/09

HOUSE BILL 1136

AN ACT relative to special state elections.
SPONSORS: Rep. Horrigan, Straf 7
COMMITTEE: Election Law

ANALYSIS

This bill changes scheduling requirements for certain special elections.

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

15Feb2012… 0459h

12-2170

03/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve

AN ACT relative to special state elections.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

26:1 Nominations for Special State Elections. Amend RSA 655:81, I to read as follows:

I. The special election shall be held on a Tuesday not less than [131] 110 nor more than [145] 124 days following the day that the governor and council declare that there shall be a special election; provided, however, that if one or more municipalities where a special election for state representative will be held have a regularly-scheduled election occurring between [131] 80 and 180 days following the day that the governor and council declare that there shall be a special election, the governor and council shall set the date of the election to coincide with the regularly-scheduled election if a majority of the towns or wards, as represented by the city, jointly request that day; if towns or wards, as represented by the city, request that the special election coincide with regularly-scheduled elections occurring on different dates, the election shall be held on a Tuesday not less than [131] 110 nor more than [145] 124 days following the day that the governor and council declare that there shall be a special election; and

26:2 Nominations for Special State Elections. Amend RSA 655:81, IV to read as follows:

IV. The primary shall be held [63] 49 days prior to the special election; and

26:3 Uncontested Primary. Amend RSA 655:82 to read as follows:

655:82 Uncontested Primary. In the event that no party has more than one candidate file and no nonparty or other candidate files a declaration of intent, the primary election shall not be conducted. In such a case, the special election shall be held on the day previously fixed as the day for the holding of the special primary election.

26:4 Vacancies; State Representative. Amend RSA 661:8, III to read as follows:

III. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph II, if a vacancy occurs in the office of state representative in a district comprised of a city ward or wards, a request to hold the primary and special elections on the same dates as the city's biennial primary and regular elections may be submitted to the governor and council by the governing body of the city. If so requested, the governor and council shall declare the vacancy not less than [63] 56 days prior to the date of the city's primary election. The filing period shall be held not more than [57] 50 days nor less than [50] 43 days prior to the primary election. The provisions of RSA 655:81, III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and XI shall apply to elections held pursuant to this paragraph.

26:5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

Approved: May 2, 2012 Effective Date: July 1, 2012

See Also:



Home

The Forgotten Liars

2011

2010

2009