FreeStaters Put the Brakes on Proposed Seat Belt Law

[FSP-Rebel]

As of 12:01 this morning, the bill to make New Hampshire the 50th state to adopt a mandatory seat belt law is dead. Passing this law would've provided the state with about $3 million dollars of federal money in a year the state is hurting for funds. Following the New Hampshire tradition, as they did when defying the feds on Real ID, the legislature refused to give in to a federal bribe.

The federal money expires June 30, 2009 so that temptation will be gone next year. In addition, I expect the legislature to be much more friendly in 2010 (the bill cannot be re-introduced until the next biennium; after the next election). This was the pro-seat belt people's best chance to pass seat belts in a generation and they failed. But it was close. The House passed the bill and the senate voted 13-11 to table the bill. When a bill is tabled, it is put aside without debate, but may be brought up at any time for a vote. Since the bill was tabled (in April?), the possibility of the Senate bringing the bill back for a vote after a bit of arm twisting was still present, though unlikely. But no more.

Senate Rule 48(h) declares "Thursday, June 04, 2009 - Last Day to ACT on all remaining House bills." The time has passed, so the show is over for the statists. Rock on! NH is still the ONLY state that allows adults to choose whether they buckle up.:cool:

[Chieppa1]

I love your state.

[He Who Pawns]

I call that a WIN.

[invisible]

Fantastic! Great news!

[ChaosControl]

Congrats. :)

[donnay]

This is great news! Now, if we can get them to reaffirm the 10th amendment that Itse introduced that would be fantastic!

[FSP-Rebel]

Thanks for the kind words, folks. We'd love to have ya up here... #2 sig line. This is where freedom has a chance and this bill is an example of that, ya know? Join us!

[Theocrat]

Good job. Now if they can only get themselves out of the marriage issue...

[Keith and stuff]

Thanks for the kind words folks. Just so you know, the people that led this fight were fans of Ron Paul. I damn sure know I worked hard for Ron Paul but I admit that I worked even harder to stop this bill. I may have put over 100 hours into fighting this bill, but it was more than worth it!

Live Free or Die!

[FSP-Rebel]

Thanks for the kind words folks. Just so you know, the people that lead this fight were fans of Ron Paul. I damn sure know I worked hard for Ron Paul but I admit that I worked even harder to stop this bill. I may have put over 100 hours into fighting this bill, but it was more than worth it!

Live Free or Die!
Keith really is our saving grace. It's activists like him that give us our appeal.:cool:

[FSP-Rebel]

Good job. Now if they can only get themselves out of the marriage issue...
Not a fan of the gay marriage thing, huh?

[Theocrat]

Not a fan of the gay marriage thing, huh?

Yes, but I'm against the State being involved in marriage in the first place.

[KCIndy]

Thanks for the kind words folks. Just so you know, the people that lead this fight were fans of Ron Paul. I damn sure know I worked hard for Ron Paul but I admit that I worked even harder to stop this bill. I may have put over 100 hours into fighting this bill, but it was more than worth it!

Live Free or Die!


Good job. I salute you and thank you for your efforts!

[cindy25]

this proves that large legislative bodies (the NH house is 400 members) work the best.

and yet so many libertarians want city councils and town boards to be down sized

[FSP-Rebel]

Yes, but I'm against the State being involved in marriage in the first place.

I can't argue with that...

[RevolutionSD]

As of 12:01 this morning, the bill to make New Hampshire the 50th state to adopt a mandatory seat belt law is dead. Passing this law would've provided the state with about $3 million dollars of federal money in a year the state is hurting for funds. Following the New Hampshire tradition, as they did when defying the feds on Real ID, the legislature refused to give in to a federal bribe.

The federal money expires June 30, 2009 so that temptation will be gone next year. In addition, I expect the legislature to be much more friendly in 2010 (the bill cannot be re-introduced until the next biennium; after the next election). This was the pro-seat belt people's best chance to pass seat belts in a generation and they failed. But it was close. The House passed the bill and the senate voted 13-11 to table the bill. When a bill is tabled, it is put aside without debate, but may be brought up at any time for a vote. Since the bill was tabled (in April?), the possibility of the Senate bringing the bill back for a vote after a bit of arm twisting was still present, though unlikely. But no more.

Senate Rule 48(h) declares "Thursday, June 04, 2009 - Last Day to ACT on all remaining House bills." The time has passed, so the show is over for the statists. Rock on! NH is still the ONLY state that allows adults to choose whether they buckle up.:cool:

Nice job, but realize that this is not a win in shrinking government, just preventing it from getting bigger. And believe me, they will try to implement this law again. It's the nature of politicians.

[porcupine]

Nice job, but realize that this is not a win in shrinking government, just preventing it from getting bigger. And believe me, they will try to implement this law again. It's the nature of politicians.

You can't shrink government until you stop its growth. Seat belt laws are a very, very basic (and most think small) infringement on liberty and New Hampshire has been unique in facing down the federal government on this. We are proud to have continued this tradition.

Yes, they'll bring it up again and we'll beat them again. The great thing about New Hampshire is that there are more libertarian activists moving in every year so our movement is getting stronger and stronger.

[BuddyRey]

The Free State Project is really flexing their muscles of late! Dare I say it, their power level seems to be well over 9,000!

http://gamesnet.vo.llnwd.net/o1/gamestar/objects/142882_main.jpg

[tremendoustie]

The Free State Project is really flexing their muscles of late! Dare I say it, their power level seems to be well over 9,000!

http://gamesnet.vo.llnwd.net/o1/gamestar/objects/142882_main.jpg

It's over 9000!!!!!!!!

[FSP-Rebel]

It's over 9000!!!!!!!!
We can always use more. Feel free to join us, love to have ya. No state income or general sales tax, plus gun laws are super lax and no mandatory car insurance.

[puppetmaster]

nice, lets keep going

[ItsTime]

Good job. Now if they can only get themselves out of the marriage issue...

god you are a fucking idiot. Why should a state even have a marriage issue? Cuz bigots like you want the state to back YOUR SIDE and not FREEDOM of individual.

Thank god the marriage license was created because of the racism that was present in America huh? I have no fucking clue why you think freedom applies to some people and not others. Are you just as bad as the skin heads that think blacks should not be able to marry?

[tremendoustie]

We can always use more. Feel free to join us, love to have ya. No state income or general sales tax, plus gun laws are super lax and no mandatory car insurance.


I know it man, I'm from there :). Planning to move back in a year or two.

[specsaregood]

We can always use more. Feel free to join us, love to have ya. No state income or general sales tax, plus gun laws are super lax and no mandatory car insurance.

The property taxes are pretty steep though aren't they? I'd rather have to pay a sales tax on purchases than pay a large price to have to rent my own home/land from the state.

[FSP-Rebel]

The property taxes are pretty steep though aren't they? I'd rather have to pay a sales tax on purchases than pay a large price to have to rent my own home/land from the state.
Yeah, but that's one of the few issues we need to work on. The state house should see a nice house cleaning in 2010.:cool:

[FSP-Rebel]

god you are a fucking idiot. Why should a state even have a marriage issue? Cuz bigots like you want the state to back YOUR SIDE and not FREEDOM of individual.

Thank god the marriage license was created because of the racism that was present in America huh? I have no fucking clue why you think freedom applies to some people and not others. Are you just as bad as the skin heads that think blacks should not be able to marry?
Bro, I'm pretty sure he thinks that the state shouldn't be involved in marriage, ya know?

[Mahkato]

My silly state just made not wearing a seat belt a primary offense, meaning they can pull you over and ticket you just for that.

[tremendoustie]

My silly state just made not wearing a seat belt a primary offense, meaning they can pull you over and ticket you just for that.

Time to head to NH ;)

[porcupine]

The property taxes are pretty steep though aren't they? I'd rather have to pay a sales tax on purchases than pay a large price to have to rent my own home/land from the state.

NH's overall taxes are the lowest in the lower 48 states (Alaska's are lower because they get lots of federal money). And because we have no sales or income tax, the only tax left is property taxes. By comparison property taxes are high, but, again, overall taxes are low.

The nice thing about property taxes is that they aren't withheld (like sales or income taxes). You're sent a bill at the end of every year and it hurts to pay it. That's one of the reasons NH has such low taxes.

[FSP-Rebel]

My silly state just made not wearing a seat belt a primary offense, meaning they can pull you over and ticket you just for that.
I fell ya man. That was the case for me when I lived in michigan 2 weeks ago. Now I have more freedom than I know what to do with.

I pay cheaper prices for cigarettes, booze/beer/wine, way less for gas (30 cents cheaper a gallon or more, no cash or credit crap here), I can openly carry at my leisure unimpeded, no state income or general sales tax, no helmet/SB or mandatory car insurance, plus more liberty activists per capita than anywhere else in the world. We also have more liberty media per capita (Free Talk Live, Free Minds TV/Radio <on over 10 stations statewide>, Ridley report, NH Capitol Access <on over 10 stations statewide>, Liberty Conspiracy plus too many other local pro-liberty radio shows to name) plus more movers moving in every week!

When you move here, we have a 'Welcome Wagon' that will arrive wherever you move and help your family move in and we usually have at least 10 people present. The FSP community here is 2nd to none and we look out and help each other like family. If any of this appeals to you or anyone else, join on my #2 sig line. We're friendly as hell and we have so many activist/social opportunities on a weekly basis that you have to pick and choose. Anybody have that problem in their own state?:cool:

[FSP-Rebel]

Oh, I forgot to mention. We're celebrating our defeat of the Feds and the lousy democrats on the seatbelt thing @ Murphy's Taproom (freestater owned pub) in Manchester this Tuesday @ 8pm, so join us if you're in New England. We're having cake, ice cream and beer for the victory party - if you like that sort of thing. You'll be able to meet lot's of Freestaters who participated in the throwdown with the undesirables. At least 60 FSPers are expected to attend - I imagine a lot more. Come and meet us, you'll be welcomed handsomely. Cake and ice cream is free. Drinks are cheap, so come on up.

[Keith and stuff]

Good job. I salute you and thank you for your efforts!

Thanks. I see you have a Campaign for Liberty link in your sig file. Several CFL folks were involved. Infact, if you look at the NH CFL website, you will see a blog entry about how to defeat the bill from my friend Denis.

[Keith and stuff]

this proves that large legislative bodies (the NH house is 400 members) work the best.

and yet so many libertarians want city councils and town boards to be down sized

I think the thing about the NH House is that it has one representative for about every 3,250 people. This way the people get to know their reps much better. I also love that the state house doesn't have air conditioner, the reps give out their personal phone number, they don't have offices, and only make $100 per year. These reps don't stand above the people but are true citizen legislatures.

Most states do things very differently. For example, I heard reps make around $60,000 per year in PA.

[Keith and stuff]

god you are a fucking idiot. Why should a state even have a marriage issue? Cuz bigots like you want the state to back YOUR SIDE and not FREEDOM of individual.

Thank god the marriage license was created because of the racism that was present in America huh? I have no fucking clue why you think freedom applies to some people and not others. Are you just as bad as the skin heads that think blacks should not be able to marry?


Woah dude. Maybe the person is a bigot or something but calling them a fing idiot won't help change their mind.

I understand you love liberty but we don't need to use our passion to hate on each other.

[Keith and stuff]

The property taxes are pretty steep though aren't they? I'd rather have to pay a sales tax on purchases than pay a large price to have to rent my own home/land from the state.

Property taxes are low in some NH town, about average in some NH town, high in others and very high in some. Taxes in most towns are determined by what the voters of the time decide they should pay.

My rent went down when I moved to NH. I used to split an apartment in TN with rent of $450 per month. Last year I rented a basement in coastal NH for $390 per month. Now a rent a room in a duplex in one of the highest taxed parts of NH for $350 per month. I'm including all utilities in the figures.

Of course, TN also has a sales tax of 9.25% to 9.75% so I'm saving quite a bit on taxes.

[FSP-Rebel]

Gosh, Keith had it hard in TN... I'm glad he's here saving dough and all.

[Badger Paul]

Congrats guys! Viva la Free State!

[FSP-Rebel]

Congrats guys! Viva la Free State!
Thanks bro, I just moved into a house w/ someone from WI. It is 2nd to none, I have 2 closets, a master bedroom, and a skylight on the bathroom for $500/mt. Can't complain about that. Come and join, my dude.

[Keith and stuff]

We just had a big party about this at a bar owned by a Ron Paul Republican. The turn out was around 70. Fantastic cake!

[FSP-Rebel]

We just had a big party about this at a bar owned by a Ron Paul Republican. The turn out was around 70. Fantastic cake!
You're wrong Keith, I calculated at least 120 or more, throughout the night.

[FSP-Rebel]

I think the thing about the NH House is that it has one representative for about every 3,250 people. This way the people get to know their reps much better. I also love that the state house doesn't have air conditioner, the reps give out their personal phone number, they don't have offices, and only make $100 per year. These reps don't stand above the people but are true citizen legislatures.

Most states do things very differently. For example, I heard reps make around $60,000 per year in PA.
Great post. They made 80k in Mich + expense account. Everything is better for me in NH.