Seasons Greetings!
As you know, 2021 presented many challenges for our families and communities. As a first term Senator in the Senate minority, I faced unique challenges. Regardless, I chose to put my best foot forward for District 5 and the Granite State to accomplish important work.
As I ring in 2022, I plan to continue to work on our State's response to COVID-19 and support public health and access to healthcare. Curbing COVID-19 is one of my top priorities-- especially with the rising cases here in NH.
I have also been engaged in conversations with the NH Department of Safety (DOS) about the shortage of career and volunteer EMS & Fire Personnel. More information to follow after the first of the year.
I have filled the following legislation and will work this upcoming year to pass these bills. Note, not all have bill numbers and can be searched by LSR's.
LSR 22-3082.1 – This bill is at the request of the City of Claremont and is enabling legislation that allows municipalities to create a registry of vacant and abandoned properties, which can create blight in neighborhoods and cause public safety concerns, such as arson. The intent of this bill is to support revitalization and public safety in our communities by allowing cities and towns to track vacant and abandoned properties.
LSR 22-3083.0 – This is a request from the NH Board of Pharmacy that will streamline the process for delivering medications to patients by allowing an attending practitioner and a pharmacist to enter into a “collaborative pharmacy practice agreement” with the informed consent of the patient.
LSR 22-3084.1 – This bill is a request from the NH Family Mediators Association to clarify how and where qualified family mediator interns may participate in family work. Internships are an important part of training for family mediators, and this bill will help ensure that family mediator interns receive appropriate training as well as is legally recognized in the process.
LSR 22-3087.0 – This bill will enable municipalities to charge a local occupancy fee of up to $2 per occupancy per 24-hr period for the purpose of augmenting funding for the cost of municipal services associated with increased tourism and transient traffic. The fee is paid by the temporary occupants of hotels or Airbnb's and will primarily impact non-NH residents.
The bill does not impose any new taxes but creates a cost-recovery option for communities that experience strain on their municipal services due to tourism and transient traffic.
LSR 22-3086.0 – This bill allows the State of New Hampshire to benefit from robust and comprehensive emergency medical and trauma services data analysis that impacts the development of patient care protocols, which is available from nationally recognized organizations and which we do not currently have the capacity to conduct. An important component of this bill is protecting the privacy of care recipients and all requests are approved by the Commissioner of DOS.
LSR 22-3088-1 - This bill formalizes our 13 existing public health networks and formally adopts a public health council for each region with representatives from the municipalities who opt-in. COVID-19 has shown how critical our public health infrastructure is, and the purpose of this bill is to ensure that we have and support a coordinated response across the state to future public health emergencies and build a formal public health infrastructure.
LSR 22-3089.1 - The Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act will make postpartum care available for twelve months after the last day of pregnancy, providing women with the services they need to recover from pregnancy and birth, to nurture their infants, and give them a healthy start to life. This bill amends the state Medicaid plan that already provides coverage for women during their pregnancy and for 60-days after delivery, however, they are not part of the expansion program due to income, therefore losing coverage at the 60-day mark.
LSR 22-3090 – This bill will exempt 3 EMS & Trauma Advisory Board and the Fire Standards & Training Commission at NH Department of Safety from the physical quorum requirement of RSA 91-A:2, increasing accessibility and allowing for greater participation of people across the state through remote meetings.
LSR 3091.0 – This bill creates parity in the Medicaid facility fee reimbursement schedule between freestanding, licensed birthing centers and hospitals.
I am happy to answer any questions about these and other bills shaping up before the NH Senate. Just reach out!
This holiday season I wish for peace, public health, and a path forward out of this pandemic,
Sue
Sue Prentiss
State Senator, District