Committee in knots over speed limits

By the narrowest of margins, the NH House Resource, Recreation and Development Committee yesterday recommended to the full House a bill that would set a daytime speed limit of 45 miles per hour and a nighttime speed limit of 25 miles per hour on bodies of water throughout the state. But not without tying itself in knots.

By 11 votes to 10, the committee adopted an amendment to House Bill 162 sponsored by Representative Dennis Abbott (D-Newmarket) that applies specific speed limits in tandem with the "reasonable and prudent" standard. By the very same margin, the committee rejected a similar amendment offered by Representative Chris Christensen (R-Merrimack) that also imposed the "reasonable and prudent " standard, but made no reference to specific speed limits.

The committee split along party lines. The eight Democrats on the committee were joined by three of the 13 Republicans — Representatives Richard Cooney (R-Salem), Sandra Keans (R-Rochester) and Christopher Ahlgren (R-Wolfeboro) in the majority, leaving the 10 remaining Republicans in the minority.

Apart from the specific speed limits — the "45/25" that was the hallmark of HB 162 as originally introduced by Representative Jim Pilliod (R-Belmont) — the two amendments track one another. Both provide that "no person shall operate a vessel at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the existing conditions and without regard for the actual and potential hazards then existing."

Likewise, both amendments stipulate that any conviction "shall become a part of the motor vehicle driving record of the person convicted." However, Abbott's amendment included a provision that speed in excess of 45 miles per hour in daytime and 25 miles per hour at night "shall be prima facie evidence that the speed is not reasonable or prudent and that is unlawful."

After months of clamorous public meetings and tedious work sessions, the committee only completed its work on HB 162 after running aground on the shoals of parliamentary procedure, thanks in large part to the fickle navigating of Ahlgren.

The committee began the day with three amendments to HB 162. The third, proposed by Ahlgren, sought to relate specific speed limits to the so-called "safe passage" law requiring headway speed — six miles per hour — within 150 feet of rafts, floats, swimmers, permitted swimming areas, shore, docks, mooring fields and other vessels. The amendment was based on the notion that the greater the distance, the greater the permissible speed, allowing boats to reach 75 miles per hour in daytime and 45 miles per hour at night when more than 1,000 feet from the listed items, while applying "45/25" at distances between 150 and 1,000 feet.

Although Christensen said Ahlgren's approach could serve as "a training scenario" for the Marine Patrol, he doubted it could be effectively enforced since it consisted of "multiple components," each of which would have to be proven in court. The committee rejected Ahlgren's amendment 13 to 8 on a straight party-line vote, with all the Democrats in favor, signaling that although they preferred the Abbott amendment, the Democrats were united behind specific speed limits.

The committee then turned to Christensen's amendment. Its supporters repeated the by now familiar arguments that there was no evidence that excessive speed compromised safety on the lakes and that specific speed limits could not be effectively enforced. "You can't put a number on what is a proper speed in certain conditions on our lake," declared Representative David Russell (R-Gilmanton). "Numbers don't make it. Common sense, good enforcement and good education do." Representative Judith Spang (D-Durham) countered that "specific limits send a strong message and we need to send that message. Now the message is that anything goes on Lake Winnipesaukee and you'd better take care of yourself."

When the committee voted, Christensen's amendment carried 11 to 10, as Representative David Currier (R-Henniker), who chairs the committee, cast the deciding vote. After the failure of his amendment, Ahlgren joined his fellow Republicans in the majority. Two Republicans, Cooney and Keans, voted with the eight Democrats.

As the committee took up Abbott's amendment, Ahlgren's cell phone began to ring. Struggling to silence it, Ahlgren apologized, indicating he was unsure how to operate it. "There's a window right there!" Currier snapped, a poignant remark in light of what happened next. After some debate, the committee also adopted Abbott's amendment by an 11 to 10 margin with Ahlgren joining the eight Democrats and two Republicans to provide the decisive vote.

The committee found itself in the quandary of having endorsed two substantially different versions of HB 162 by identical margins. After a few minutes of fruitless debate about how to proceed, Representative Harry Merrow (R-Center Ossipee) ventured "Mr. Chairman, I don't think any of us know what we're talking about." Currier declared a recess, saying he would seek guidance from the House Clerk.

Returning after the lunch hour, Currier announced that "the parliamentary situation is not clean." On the advice of Assistant Clerk Eric Fowler, Currier said the committee must reconsider its vote on Christensen's amendment and then vote to reject it. What, Christensen asked, if the motion to reconsider fails or if the amendment is adopted again. "Aren't we back where we started?"

"The assumption is that it is not going to pass," Currier replied, prompting laughter from his members.

Fowler, who was called to the rescue, explained that the committee could not present two incompatible reports to the House. If the committee failed to reconsider Christensen's amendment, it would be unable to issue a report. In that case, the original bill, which set speed limits solely for Lake Winnipesaukee, would go to the full House, undoing months of work by the committee. Moreover, any amendments to the bill would have to be offered as floor amendments.

With that the committee agreed to follow the course Fowler charted. "I want it to be perfectly clear when we leave this room what we did here," Currier stated. "Or as clear as it can be."

The committee reconsidered Christensen's amendment, then rejected it, 11 to 10, with the fickle Ahlgren making the majority, then voted HB 162, as amended by Abbott, "ought to pass."

However, the odyssey of HB 162 is far from over. Before the final vote, Abbott told the committee that over lunch he had agreed to raise the daytime speed to 55 miles per hour in hopes of attracting more support for the bill. In no mood for further parliamentary maneuvers, the proposal went begging. Sandra Helve, the leader of the Winnipesaukee Family Alliance for Boating Safety (WinnFABS), which has marshaled popular support for the bill, said the group would have to consider whether to renew the proposal when the bill reached the House.

The coalition of forces opposed to speed limits — led by the New Hampshire Marine Dealers Association, New Hampshire Recreational Boaters Association and the Northeast Bass Association — may be bowed, but not beaten. Representative Mary Ellen Martin (D-Nashua) reminded the committee that three previous efforts to set speed limits on the lakes had failed. "There are very powerful vested interests interested in high speeds on our lakes," she said, "some of them are our contemporaries."

Although the committee divided along party lines, supporters of the speed limits are banking on the heavily Republican delegations from the Lakes Region, where the GOP holds 17 of 18 seats in Belknap County and 12 or 13 in Carroll County — when the bill reaches the House.