A bill stiffening the penalty for refusing a drunk-driving test cleared the New Hampshire House by a wide margin, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported. The Senate sponsor thanked House Majority Leader Jason Osborne for letting his caucus vote their consciences on the measure. The outlet described the outcome as a major victory for Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the bill’s sponsor.
The outcome reversed the chamber’s earlier stance on a measure that had repeatedly stalled in past sessions. As the New Hampshire Union Leader reported, the bill drew strong bipartisan support after a compromise on the length of the license suspension, and supporters credited families of crash victims and law enforcement with helping change minds.
As the New Hampshire Union Leader reported, the lopsided tally marked a turnaround for a chamber that had previously rejected similar legislation.
The 259-94 vote marked a major victory for Gov. Kelly Ayotte and sponsoring Sen. Bill Gannon, R-Sandown
the New Hampshire Union Leader
Ayotte welcomed the outcome, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader, casting it as a step toward closing a loophole in state law.
“With this bipartisan bill now coming to my desk, we’re taking a critical step to keep New Hampshire the safest state in the nation,” Ayotte said in a statement.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
The sponsor described the moment he believed broke the impasse and brought the bill across the finish line.
“I felt like this was going to be the year to get this done and we did because it was seen as a common-sense, bipartisan issue whose time had come,” Gannon said in an interview.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
As the New Hampshire Union Leader reported, the measure raises the administrative penalty for suspected impaired drivers who refuse a blood or breath alcohol test, with a House compromise setting the license suspension at nine months rather than the one year the sponsor and governor had initially sought. The outlet noted that House Democrats embraced the compromise by a wide margin while House Republicans also backed it, and that the bill emerged from a top recommendation of a bipartisan safe-driving task force the governor had convened.
The full story at the New Hampshire Union Leader details the compromise on the length of the license suspension, the bipartisan vote breakdown, and Osborne’s decision to let House Republicans weigh the bill on its merits.
For backers of the measure, the lopsided vote marked the end of a long effort to close what they described as a gap in the state’s impaired-driving laws. The result, as the New Hampshire Union Leader reported, reflected a rare bipartisan consensus, with leaders crediting a compromise that brought reluctant members on board.
With the House and Senate aligned, the bill appeared headed toward final passage and the governor’s desk, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Supporters framed the compromise on the suspension period as a reasonable middle ground, one that addressed safety concerns raised by victims’ families and law enforcement while answering objections from members wary of the original one-year penalty.
Read the full story at the New Hampshire Union Leader.
