Refunding COVID-19 business fines clears House hurdle
Feb. 24—BEDFORD — Legislation that would refund business fines and annul criminal convictions for violators of COVID-19 restrictions when the pandemic is over received initial approval Wednesday from the House, over the objection of Gov. Chris Sununu.
The 188-169 vote was one of the first acts on specific bills (HB 63) taken this year by the House of Representatives, which was meeting for the first of two days at the NH Sportsplex in Bedford.
"This is not just about the businesses that have been fined, but by those who fear they will be next," said Rep. Andrew Prout, R-Hudson, the bill's prime author. "This will allow us to chart a path to get beyond the emergency once it has passed."
Shortly after the vote, Sununu sharply criticized it.
"We can't claim to support law and order, then incentivize law-breaking and those who do not follow the rules," Sununu said in a statement.
"Our reasonable public health guidelines allowed us to keep our economy open. Rewarding the small handful who recklessly thwarted public health and safety after outreach and educational attempts is a complete disservice to the thousands of small businesses who worked tirelessly to keep their employees and customers safe while enabling our economy to stay open for business."
Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, said the "clear and unmistakable message" from the bill was that there's no consequence for those who ignore emergency orders Sununu issued to protect public safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Your state has chosen to reward the people who chose not to follow the rules during the worst health crisis of the past 100 years," Meuse said.
The bill now goes to the House Finance Committee for its review.
The measure is one of about 15 bills House Republicans have sponsored in 2021 to check or erase the emergency powers for New Hampshire governors in future emergencies.
"This is simply the beginning, the first step in addressing the pain experienced by businesses and people over the past year," said Rep. Chris True, R-Sandown.
The New Hampshire Attorney General's office reported that since the pandemic began, eight businesses have been fined a total of $10,000 for COVID-19 related violations.
This total was negotiated down in settlement agreements with the business owners.
House at home in Bedford
The House met Wednesday and is meeting Thursday in the sprawling sports complex, which is the width of a football field.
The space is more than twice the size of the Whittemore Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, where the House met three times in 2020.
To minimize health risk, all House members were seated 12 feet apart, except for the few dozen House members who chose, for health or philosophical reasons, not to wear a mask.
Those sitting in the unmasked section were spaced 20 feet apart, officials said.
The AG's office ruled some time ago that Sununu's executive order requiring masks in public spaces could not be enforced on the Legislature.
Both the judicial and legislative branches are separate governmental units and make their own rules, the AG determined.
House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, stressed that all legislators on the sports playing surface had to wear a mask while entering, exiting or temporarily leaving their seats.
A federal district court judge on Monday tossed out a lawsuit House Democrats had brought to challenge Packard's decision to require that House members be physically present to take part in sessions.
About 30 House members asked for and were granted excuses for not showing up on Wednesday, nearly 20 of them citing "illness."
