The state allows only four nonprofit “alternative treatment centers” to operate a small number of dispensaries around the state
Out-of-state visitors to New Hampshire will soon pay double the fees to use state parks and double the tolls on non-New Hampshire transponders.
And convicted felons who maintain their innocence will soon be able to request a retrial even after the state’s three-year deadline if there’s new evidence contradicting their guilt.
Those laws will take effect despite Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s veto, after the House and Senate overrode seven vetoed bills Wednesday in a chaotic session weeks ahead of the Sept. 8 primaries.
Throughout a packed Veto Day, legislators in both parties made unlikely alliances to overpower a handful of the governor’s vetoes, securing the two-thirds threshold for an override.
And while lawmakers upheld most of Ayotte’s 31 vetoes, a modern record by a governor whose party controls the State House, the day revealed surprising fractures and political disagreements. Most of the sustained vetoes were for Republican “culture war” bills that Ayotte opposed and had little chance of Democratic support.
Most of the House’s veto overrides, meanwhile, were overwhelmingly bipartisan and nearly unanimous.
Cannabis greenhouses
Ayotte has long been opposed to cannabis legalization. In New Hampshire, it’s not legal for recreational use, but has been legal for medical purposes since 2013 in a tightly regulated market.
The state allows only four nonprofit “alternative treatment centers” to operate a small number of dispensaries around the state.
Senate Bill 468, sponsored by Loudon Republican Sen. Howard Pearl, allows those dispensaries to operate their own greenhouses, an effort to increase supply and lower prices — a common complaint about the state’s medicinal marijuana program.
Both chambers passed it, but Ayotte vetoed the bill in June, saying, “I do not support expanding the cultivation of marijuana in our state. For this reason, I have vetoed SB 468.”
Last Wednesday, lawmakers overrode that veto. House representatives did so overwhelmingly in a 257-44 vote. In the Senate, eight Democrats and eight Republicans came together to override it, 16-8.
This excerpt was reprinted from the New Hampshire Bulletin under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You can read the original version here.
