HB 0790

HB 790 - AS INTRODUCED

AN ACT relative to legislative voting procedures and apportioning state representative districts.

SPONSORS: Rep. T. Allen, Hills 45

This bill requires voting in the house of representatives and at organizational convening according to the number of constituents of the members. This bill also establishes state representative districts.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

AN ACT relative to legislative voting procedures and apportioning state representative districts.

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

14:2-b Organizational Convening. Pursuant to the constitution, the general court shall assemble biennially on the first Wednesday of December following the biennial election for organizational purposes. At such assembly, the senate and the house shall take the oath of office, elect the secretary of state, the state treasurer, and such other officers and employees, adopt such organizational procedures and rules, and perform such other organizational business as they deem necessary. The nomination of the secretary of state and the state treasurer may be by any member of the general court and shall be without regard to the party affiliation of the candidate. The election of the secretary of state or of the state treasurer shall be conducted without regard to the party affiliation of the candidates and by secret ballots, if more than one person is nominated for election to such position. Secret ballots shall be available in denominations of 3000, 1000, 300, 100, 30, 10, 3, and 1 constituent; each senator shall be entitled to cast ballots for 3089 constituents, and each representative shall be entitled to cast ballots according to the number of constituents listed in 662:5.

2 New Section; Constituent Voting. Amend RSA 14 by inserting after section 2-b the following new section:

14:2-c Constituent Voting. In all voting in the house of representatives, each representative shall be entitled to cast ballots according to the number of constituents listed in 662:5.

3 State Representative Districts. RSA 662:5 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

662:5 State Representative Districts. The state is divided into districts for the choosing of state representatives, each of which may elect the number of representatives, each of whom may vote for the number of constituents set forth opposite the district, as follows:

4 Application. The voting procedures established in sections 1 and 2 of this act shall apply upon the organization of members elected at the 2004 state general election. The changes in state representative districts established by this act shall not affect constituencies or terms of office of representatives presently in office. The state representative districts established by this act shall be in effect for the purpose of electing representatives at the 2004 state general election. If there shall be a vacancy in a state representatives district for any reason prior to the 2004 state general election, the vacancy shall be filled by and from the same state representative district that existed for the 2002 state general election. No provision of this act shall affect in any manner any of the proceedings of the membership of the house of representatives of the general court that assembled for a biennial session in January 2003.