Granite Status: A bill that will give you the warm fuzzies

Oct. 14—IN A CAMPAIGN AGAINST an incumbent legislator, it's not uncommon to say every bill your opponent has sponsored, every vote they've taken, is wrong, bad and maybe downright diabolical.

Your columnist double-dog-dares anyone to try that line against a bill called the "Puppy Protection Act."

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan drew attention to their co-sponsorship of the fuzzily-titled bill this week.

"Every effort must be made to ensure that dogs raised by breeders are kept in safe, sanitary and humane conditions," Shaheen said in a statement. "I was proud to help introduce the Puppy Protection Act, legislation that would prevent breeders from keeping dogs in squalid, negligent facilities and strengthen veterinary care, breeding and housing standards for dogs."

"It is heartbreaking to see the conditions that puppies and dogs are subjected to in puppy mills and similar environments," Hassan said in a statement. "This important legislation would help ensure that dogs and puppies who are in a breeder's care are properly cared for and can lead happy and healthy lives."

Beyond the heartstring-tugging, the bill itself proposes to impose regulations on dog breeders. Kennels would have to be big enough for dogs to stretch out. Breeders would have to let puppies run around, and give them time to socialize with humans and other dogs.

The bill also requires a year-and-a-half break for breeding females between litters, limits breeders to six litters per female, and requires breeders to find homes for retired breeding dogs.

The 2022 Senate race looks to be full of dog lovers (or at least, puppy-protectors), with retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc's dog Victor often at his side.

For his part, Gov. Chris Sununu voiced support for tougher regulation of dog breeders too, on the heels of the rescue of dozens of Great Danes from a Wolfeboro home in 2017.

Sununu expanded the duties of the Governor's Commission on the Humane Treatment of Animals that year, saying he wanted the commission to track and advocate for legislation against animal cruelty.

But a 2018 bill intended to tighten regulations on smaller breeders never made it to his desk.

Is this the most pressing issue facing America today? Probably not. Is your columnist going to ask about the Puppy Protection Act next time someone says he or she disagrees with everything Hassan or Shaheen have done in Congress? Doggone right.

Western N.H. visit promotes both big spending bills

As the House mulls the order of operations in passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Democrats' sweeping reconciliation bill, Shaheen spent Wednesday on the western side of New Hampshire to promote both bills in one trip.

First up, infrastructure. Shaheen met with a Lempster family to hear about their difficulty accessing high-speed internet, and then toured Newport's water treatment facility to hear about needed upgrades.

In statements Wednesday afternoon, Shaheen said the infrastructure bill, which has already passed the Senate but is stalling in the House, would help both.

As for the reconciliation bill — the measure that could pass with only Democrats' votes — that aims to expand programs from early childhood education to Medicare benefits, Shaheen focused on the bill's proposed climate change-fighting measures in Hanover.

After a visit to Mink Brook Community Forest, she said in a statement that climate change could change New Hampshire's foliage, and take a bite out of leaf-peeping tourism.

Hassan campaign launches ads to boost business-friendly cred

A pair of TV ads for Hassan's reelection campaign, announced this week, feature small business-owners in Bedford and Exeter, talking about how Hassan's push for a bigger federal research-and-development tax credit has helped their enterprises.

"This is just the kind of entrepreneurship and innovation that I am working so hard to promote," Hassan says of one of the businesses in one of the ads.

Just last month, Sununu's office noted a record number of applicants for a state research and development tax credit.

In her new ads, Hassan says it was she who, as governor, doubled the state credit and made it permanent.

While Hassan's campaign is presenting her in a business-friendly light, the dirty work of taking the shine off Sununu — particularly for Democrats who broke for Sununu in 2020 — has been left to the New Hampshire Democratic Party and outside groups like Amplify NH. Both have been busy.

Amplify NH this week started running a TV ad about the state's new ban on late-term abortions, the group's second anti-Sununu spot. And Wednesday's Executive Council meeting provided yet another opportunity for the Democratic party to try convincing its voters not to split their tickets for Sununu again.

Contact Josie Albertson-Grove at jgrove@unionleader.com.