'It's OK. We've Done It Before...'

And, apparently, gotten away with it...

SB66, "including a fetus in the definition of 'another' for purposes of certain criminal offenses," having been retained (to what purpose, anyway?) in the NH House Criminal Justice Committee, is somehow quickly resurrected for amendments and a final committee recommendation in Executive Session without benefit of public notice (even in the current House Calendar) or further publicly accessible hearings or meetings. The justification seems to be "oh, we've always done it that way." Mildly contentious procedural debate ensues, to be followed, with one exception, by party-line votes. The drama begins around the 8:00 minute mark, following some, umm, House-keeping chores, which include...

Tangentially but of considerable note, and having no "work product" to warrant a separate post, the bill for which your humble chronicler primarily had attended this day's festivities in the first place, HB656, "relative to the legalization and regulation of marijuana" -- House hearing here, Senate hearing for their own version, SB233, here -- and expecting what the House Calendar dubbed a "work session", was instead simply assigned to a subcommittee without much fanfare, for work over the summer. Inquiring of the Chair when it became apparent the committee was done for the day, he volunteered that he believed that chances of passage are good.

No surprise, really, given that the House has passed "legalization" before (the first US legislative body to have done so, in fact). But he seemed to be signaling an even more significant result this time -- which itself should also not be surprising, given that NH (the "Live Free or Die" State) is soon to be surrounded by compatriot governments that finally acknowledge the utter failure of the utterly unauthorized "War on People Who Use (Some) Drugs"™...