Wow! What A Day In Concord And Beyond...

Wow! What a day in Concord and beyond. . .

by Deborah Aylward

Will you marry me?

The governor recently signed into law legislation that prohibits minors (under age 18) from getting married, but with exceptions. Read all about it: https://newhampshirebulletin.c...

On final session day, Republican-supported bills crashed and burned

Bills that would outlaw ’sanctuary cities’, to legalizing cannabis (that were Republican priorities) were killed in the 11th hour by a series of unexpected votes that was disheartening. Having worked on the former last year, the 'anti-sanctuary cities' bill was tabled without debate after being attached to an unrelated bill by the Senate.

The bill sought to protect New Hampshire citizens from those who have entered, and are in the country illegally, by preventing cities and towns from adopting ‘welcoming policies' that essentially shield individuals who are wanted on (civil) immigration detainers. Certain chiefs of police opposed assisting with enforcement of federal detainers when separate criminal charges are not involved. This, despite recent reports of alleged rape and murder of a Maryland mom by an El Salvadorian male, who is believed to have fled to the US after murdering a woman in his home country, as follows: “ . . .[G]ahler said that Martinez Hernandez was free to roam all over the U.S. having entered the country illegally in February 2023, about a month after he was wanted in El Salvador for homicide. Police linked Martinez Hernandez’s DNA to a March home invasion in Los Angeles where a mother and her 9-year-old daughter were assaulted.”

Cannabis bill goes up in smoke, again

In the midst of Bike Week, Rep. Deborah Aylward (who resides in Danbury), stopped to speak with visitors to "Hippie Hill" (a favorite, if not famous whistle stop for bikers, Veterans, constituents and tourists located in Danbury) and informally polled both in and out-of-state (VT and MA) cannabis fans about HB 1633 (the cannabis legalization bill) to gain insight for her upcoming vote later in the week and to determine if she should vote 'Aye' or 'Nay’?

Not surprisingly. after some discussion and comparison to bordering states where recreational cannabis is legal, Aylward came away with the understanding that unless Granite Staters were allowed to 'grow their own', and with dispensaries not state owned, nor operated (with neither proviso contained in the bill), several interviewees were not in favor of a vote in the affirmative, feeling that legislators should ‘hold out’ for a more palatable and equitable scheme. Turns out, the bill was laid on the table, and a motion to remove the bill from the table failed, essentially killing the bill. Well, there’s always next year! Read more: https://newhampshirebulletin.com/2024/06/13/house-kills-cannabis-legalization-after-failed-compromise-with-senate/

Aylward announces candidacy; hopes to start a new trend

I’m immensely pleased to announce my candidacy as a Republican candidate for State Representative, from Merrimack County, District 5 (Andover, Danbury, Hill, Salisbury, and Webster). Deeply touched by random strangers thanking me for my public service, it has been a great privilege to serve in this capacity for the past two years, and I seek to (again) earn your vote in the 2024 General Election, to be held on November 5th.

With any campaign, lyrics from a 1970, one-hit wonder song “Sign’, performed by the Five Man Electrical Band always comes to my mind when seeing highways and byways unnecessarily littered with scads of certain candidates’ signage, such as:

"Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blocking out the scenery, breaking’ my mind

Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”

Along with taxes, campaign signs could be considered a ‘necessary evil’ — but out of respect for the inhabitants of District 5 towns, and to help preserve the incredible beauty of our rural landscapes, in 2022 I restricted myself to using only five, strategically-placed signs per town. I plan to do exactly the same this campaign season.

After all, if you’ve seen one sign, you’ve seen them all, right?

A campaign tactic having only a small percentage point of influence on voter share (according to various studies 1.7 to 2.5%), and though political science practitioners may disagree, I saw no need to smother well-traveled neighborhood routes with clusters of concentrated signage -- while believing the adverse aesthetic could end up annoying (if not actually alienating) the voters I sought to attract on voting day.

There is no denying that ‘word-of-mouth' is the best form of (free) advertising and that the same holds true for attaining ’name recognition’ that goes hand-in-hand with ‘walking the walk’. The hallmark of a true Republican (and like-minded Independents) is ‘conservatism’ which, to me, in part means personally practicing restraint and frugality; while as a public servant, combating lavish spending; restricting the growth of government; upholding the rule of law; protecting property and parental rights; preventing property tax increases, and defending traditional values, institutions and constitutions to help create good public policy, not to mention having a 100% House Session attendance record.

With that said, to spare District 5 residents and travelers from what some consider to be ‘eyesores’ — and to saving unnecessary signage from clogging up landfills, in lieu of plastering your town with my campaign signs, all I ask is that you remember DEBORAH AYLWARD on voting day, and when speaking with friends or neighbors ahead of time, please remind them that DEBORAH AYWARD has striven to hold the feelings, wishes, rights, and traditions of others in due regard, and will continue to do so as their representative when re-elected. Remember ‘VOTE FOR TWO’ and may God bless you, yours, and America!

For all the lyrics visit: https://www.songfacts.com/lyri...

Homemade Foods

HB 1685, the homemade food regulations bill sponsored by Rep. Aylward, that sought to allow the production and sales of most foods made in residential kitchens is now subject to Interim Study and is wending its way through the Environment and Agriculture Committee Food safety Subcommittee, the members of which will attempt to determine the feasibility of allowing home cooks the opportunity to make and sell high profit foods such as pumpkin and chicken pot pies (for example, and currently prohibited), perhaps after taking a food safety course? If interested in helping to create a brand new food industry in New Hampshire, please contact Rep. Aylward. 603-217-7842, or deborah.aylward@leg.state.nh.us, or Committee Chairperson, Rep. Judy Aron, who invites stakeholder input in the following email:

In the NH House, one of our Interim Study Bills was HB1685 - redefining "homestead foods" as "artisan foods," creating an artisan food operations exemption, establishing artisan food products sales venues, and allowing the production and sale of artisan food products requiring refrigeration. This bill was designated an Interim Study bill because the underlying bill (https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=1525&inflect=2 ) made many changes to current law and really needed to be looked at in detail. There was a similar bill, (HB1565) that we did pass that expanded homestead foods to include high acid processed foods such as salsas, pickled vegetables and relishes, and is awaiting the governor's signature.

The House Environment and Agriculture Committee has assigned the Food Safety Subcommittee to discuss issues of homestead food production expansion, current statutes and rules and ways in which to help our agriculture community offer more diversified products. I will be chairing this House subcommittee and will be looking for your input, and suggestions to include other stakeholders to offer input to our discussions. Please share with me the names of other food producers, or interested parties, that you'd like to see included in our discussions.

I would like your input regarding the problems farmers and home producers face with current homestead food statutes and rules, and ideas of what you'd like to see done differently with an eye to expand food offerings for sale to the public. I'd like to examine current food licensing requirements, and also what municipal food inspections are involved in some cases.

I will be scheduling work meetings to discuss this bill and current homestead food policy between now and September. We are asked not to work during July and August. I would like to get your input as to whether I should begin work on this at the end of June and meet maybe once to get organized, and then reconvene at the beginning of September.... or wait until September to schedule all meetings. I believe our discussions need only be 2 or 3 meetings. So what is your preference? If we meet once or twice in late June, what dates and times of day work for better you?

Our Subcommittee members are me, Rep. Bixby, Rep. Coulon, Rep. Comtois, Rep. Sofikitis, and Rep Murray.

In September, The Environment and Agriculture Committee will gather to decide to recommend further legislation for this bill or not. My goal here is that we would recommend it for further legislation and have an idea of what that legislation will look like.

Thanks again, for all that you do to serve our communities. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Judy Aron

NH State Representative

Sullivan County District 4

(Acworth, Goshen, Langdon, Lempster, Washington)

Environment and Agriculture Committee, Chair

266 Forest Road, South Acworth, NH 03607

603-843-5908

Aylward, others not RINOs (i.e. REPUBLICAN IN NAME ONLY)

See: 2024 Report Card (scores and votes through crossover) Grok Op-Ed by Spec Bowers

https://granitegrok.com/mg_lakesregion/2024/04/2024-rino-report-card-through-crossover

Business & Industry Association (BIA) 2023 Legislative Report Issue: Scorecard

Rep. Aylward: Voted consistent with BIA positions seven (7) out of nine (9) times. HB 2-FN State Budget; HB57-F Minimum Wage; HB 74-FN Unused Earned Time; HB 142 Burgess Biopower; SB-152-FN Workforce Training; HB 524-FN RGGI Rebate; SB 623 Expanded Medicaid

Deborah Aylward is a resident of Danbury, a citizen activist and state lawmaker.