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(Huge news! Thanks for all the details, Jim. - promoted by Dean Barker)
It was a good day for the cause of marriage equality in New Hampshire. But it's not over yet. We're going into our 9th month of working for marriage equality during this Legislative Session, but we still have a few days to go.
But Friday afternoon, the Legislative Committee of Conference on HB 73, which both the House and Senate agreed last week to create, met and after a two hour discussion has recommended passage of the bill.
The legislation includes language that Governor John Lynch requested which will put clearer protections for freedom of religion into our state statutes. The Governor has said that he will sign House Bill 436, which provides for marriage equality, if HB 73 is passed.
A Committee of Conference has been appointed by the House Speaker and Senate President on House Bill 73, the legislation that has language which Governor John Lynch has requested to protect religious freedom and independence. The CoC includes Senators Bette Lasky (D), Deb Reynolds (D), and Sheila Roberge (R), and Representatives Lucy Weber (D), Gary Richardson (D), Bob Thompson (D), and Tony DiFruscia (R).
It is traditional that Committees of Conference are made up of members of the Legislative Committees to which a bill had been sent. All members on this CoC are on the House or Senate Judiciary Committees.
The first meeting of the HB 73 CoC will be Friday in room 104 of the Legislative Office Building at 1:30 PM. All meetings of a Committee of Conference are open to the public. Some such Committees hold one meeting and that's it; others have several meetings over the course of several days, and even longer. The first time the HB 73 CoC could report back to the House and Senate with a recommendation is next Wednesday, June 3rd. It is possible that a report could wait until the Wednesday, June 10th Legislative Session day.
Let's keep in mind two important facts: FACT 1: House Bill 73 is NOT an amended version of the marriage equality bill, nor does it "amend" HB 436. House Bill 436 has passed the House and Senate, and awaits on the Senate President's desk before moving onto the Governor's Office. That is a normal procedure at this point of a Legislative Session depending on whether related bills need to "catch up" in the process, so that they can then be given to the Governor together. HB 436 IS the marriage equality bill, and it is stand-alone legislation that creates the process of same-gendered couples being able to be married.
House Bill 310, a short bill, has also passed the House and Senate, and is accompanying HB 436 eventually because it makes small changes to statute concerning marriage procedures. It too is not an "amendment" to HB 436, but instead affects separate statutory language. All together, our marriage laws cover dozens of pages of state laws.
HB 73 is not a long bill. It is about a page long, and has specific protections for religious groups, Churches, and those who are employed by them from having to be engaged in marriage ceremonies which they don't wish to be. It is, quite essentially, a way to more clearly state the protections of religion which are already written into our Constitution and other state laws. It is in part based on the Connecticut marriage equality legislation recently passed in that state.
(The amendment's language is printed in full at the end of the piece. - promoted by Jennifer Daler)
We're down to the wire on passing marriage equality, which if we can make this work is going to help tens of thousands of New Hampshire citizens who for decades have had to put up with inequality, plus the intolerance that we have faced in many ways.
Governor John Lynch took a big step last week in coming down on the side of marriage equality. He will sign House Bill 436 if we put into another part of state law an additional and clearer protection of the independence and freedom of religious organizations and Churches. His language follows some wording of Connecticut's marriage equality legislation, as well as Vermont.
The language will appear as an amendment onto House Bill 73, which will come in from the Senate. We'll see it in final form after the Senate Judiciary Committee considers it tomorrow, but it follows the wording that the Governor requested last week. I have included his news release, and the draft language being offered by Senator Deb Reynolds.
I have added comments about HB 436, and the Governor's requested language, from our friends of marriage equality. We can put this issue behind us, successfully, by supporting HB 73 as amended. This is about, and for, our young people of New Hampshire -- for our future.
