TIMELINE FOR THE MYSTERY AMENDMENT
I traveled to New Hampshire and examined the file on this bill, requesting all notes, minutes, committee actions and testimony. Here is the curious timeline:
MARCH 2003: The House Elections Committee had a hearing and invited several officials to discuss the bill, which had NO LANGUAGE about excluding ballots from right to know law.
MARCH 2003: The House passed the bill, which included NO LANGUAGE about excluding ballots from right to know law.
APRIL 30, 2003: The Senate Internal Affairs Committee had a hearing on HB 627. At this time there was NO LANGUAGE about excluding ballots from right to know law.
APRIL 30, 2003: Bud Fitch from the Attorney General's office provided a legal analysis on the bill which contained NO LANGUAGE about excluding ballots from right to know law.
MAY 9, 2003: Suddenly, magically, and with no notes, testimony, hearing, legal analysis, or any visible explanation or discussion, an amendment appeared in the Senate bill to exclude ballots from right to know. This amendment was passed by the Senate.
JUNE 2003: The House saw what the Senate did to the bill. They REFUSED TO AUTHORIZE the version of the bill containing an exclusion of ballots from right to know law.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE HOUSE AND SENATE CANNOT AGREE?
JUNE 2003: When the House refuses to concur with the Senate, a "Committee of Conference" is called to see if they can get together on the language. The Committee of Conference REMOVED the offending language about excluding ballots from public right to know.
JUNE 24, 2003: The bill, with the offensive language removed, was then passed by both House and Senate.
SO HOW WERE PUBLIC RIGHTS ULTIMATELY VIOLATED?
JUNE 30, 2003 a murky little amendment posing as a "technical amendment" was passed. This amendment is both improperly vague in its wording and illegal in its implementation.
TECHNICALITIES ONLY: THE "ENROLLED BILLS" COMMITTEE"
After both houses pass a bill, it is sent to the "Enrolled Bills Committee" which checks the bill for typos, spelling errors, and other minor problems. The Enrolled Bills Committee has no right to alter content in a passed bill. But they did.
The Enrolled Bills Committee added several paragraphs to the bill, then hid them with an opaque phrase. They incorporated content that had been explicitly removed in the version passed by House and Senate, hiding the changed content behind one vague and illicit sentence: "restore original language."
I traveled to New Hampshire and examined the file on this bill, requesting all notes, minutes, committee actions and testimony. Here is the curious timeline:
MARCH 2003: The House Elections Committee had a hearing and invited several officials to discuss the bill, which had NO LANGUAGE about excluding ballots from right to know law.
MARCH 2003: The House passed the bill, which included NO LANGUAGE about excluding ballots from right to know law.
APRIL 30, 2003: Bud Fitch from the Attorney General's office provided a legal analysis on the bill which contained NO LANGUAGE about excluding ballots from right to know law.
MAY 9, 2003: Suddenly, magically, and with no notes, testimony, hearing, legal analysis, or any visible explanation or discussion, an amendment appeared in the Senate bill to exclude ballots from right to know. This amendment was passed by the Senate.
JUNE 2003: The House saw what the Senate did to the bill. They REFUSED TO AUTHORIZE the version of the bill containing an exclusion of ballots from right to know law.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE HOUSE AND SENATE CANNOT AGREE?
JUNE 2003: When the House refuses to concur with the Senate, a "Committee of Conference" is called to see if they can get together on the language. The Committee of Conference REMOVED the offending language about excluding ballots from public right to know.
JUNE 24, 2003: The bill, with the offensive language removed, was then passed by both House and Senate.
SO HOW WERE PUBLIC RIGHTS ULTIMATELY VIOLATED?
JUNE 30, 2003 a murky little amendment posing as a "technical amendment" was passed. This amendment is both improperly vague in its wording and illegal in its implementation.
TECHNICALITIES ONLY: THE "ENROLLED BILLS" COMMITTEE"
After both houses pass a bill, it is sent to the "Enrolled Bills Committee" which checks the bill for typos, spelling errors, and other minor problems. The Enrolled Bills Committee has no right to alter content in a passed bill. But they did.
The Enrolled Bills Committee added several paragraphs to the bill, then hid them with an opaque phrase. They incorporated content that had been explicitly removed in the version passed by House and Senate, hiding the changed content behind one vague and illicit sentence: "restore original language."
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