LEGISLATIVE Work

Work as Advocate for Criminal Justice Reform, 2017 – 2024

• Successful litigation and advocacy to abolish Debtors’ Prisons in New Hampshire (2017 - 2018)

 

• Primary author of landmark bail reform  bill for state senator that reduced jailing of people pre-trail while continuing to reduce the crime rate in New Hampshire (2018)
   

 

• Author of New Hampshire’s newest constitutional amendment on information privacy that was adopted by both houses of the legislature and by 82% of the voting public in November 2018. (written for the prime legislative sponsor of the amendment, a Republican representative).

 

• Author of amendments to the recoupment statute which had unfairly been collecting money from poor people who had been appointed lawyers because they were poor

 

• Lobbied for the overriding of governor’s veto of a bill abolishing the death penalty in New Hampshire

  • Veto was overridden and death penalty was abolished

 

Legislative Work

      As a Democratic legislator, I have two roles: 

1. putting forward legislation to move forward positive policy goals

2. Defending against legislation that involves negative policy goals

 

• Positive Efforts​

  • Led successful National Innocence Project effort to improve eyewitness identification procedure in New Hampshire

  • One of leaders of successful effort to prevent County Jail from contracting with ICE to house immigration detainees

  • Drafted & led successful fight to abolish the state law that forced poor people to pay for the lawyer they were appointed because they were poor

  • Supported successful effort in committee to establish sexual assault orders of protection and relative to sexual assault survivors’ rights

  • Worked to successfully in committee to amend bill to support the preferred method of communication of an individual with developmental disabilities

  • Sponsored  successful effort to establish sexual assault orders of protection and relative to sexual assault survivors’ rights

  • Negotiated successful amendment to increase in license suspension for those refusing to take a breathalyzer

  • Drafted & prime sponsored successful amendment creating the crime of reckless neglect of a child

  • Negotiated successful amendment to disobeying a police officer legislation

  • Drafted bill & led bipartisan effort to expand & embed mental health courts in every county in NH

• Led National Innocence Project effort to guarantee that all custodial interrogations are recorded

 

• Defensive Efforts

  • Opposed educational voucher system depleting funds for public education & increasing property taxes

  • Led opposition to unconstitutional & overly expansive amendment to the loitering statute

  • fought against campus carry bill in committee

  • Drafted & led unsuccessful fight for  a statue relative to governmental budget authority for agreements for law enforcement agencies to participate in federal immigration enforcement

  • Opposed all efforts to ease the presence of ICE in New Hampshire

  • Opposed efforts to reduce state revenue which effectively downshifted the fiscal burden for statewide programs to individual communities

  • Opposed the abolishment of family courts in New Hampshire

  • Opposed all anti-trans legislation

  • Opposed right-to-work legislation and other unsuccessful efforts to burden employees