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Seacoast NOW Action Alert Archive
February 5, 2004

New Hampshire loses domestic violence pioneer, Barry MacMichael

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It is with great sadness to report about the death of Barry MacMichael, 56, of an apparent heart attack, on Wednesday, February 4. Barry was a pioneer in the fight against domestic violence in New Hampshire. A memorial will be held on Sunday, March 7 at 2:00, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Concord. Memorial contributions may be made to the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence in Concord.

"I got to know Barry MacMichael during the pardon process for June Briand in 1996. Barry was instrumental in helping us educate the Governor and the Executive Council about the impact of domestic violence on society, which helped in winning June a conditional pardon that released her from prison five years early," says Suzy Colt. "Barry never hesitated to help a victim in need and I will always think of her as we continue to battle the epidemic of domestic violence."

Concord Monitor Article, February 04, 2004

Advocate for abuse victims dies at 56
MacMichael fought domestic violence
By Lisa Wangsness

In Barry's honor, we must continue the battle. There are two bills relating to domestic violence introduced in this legislative session. HB1165 is an attempt to clarify the law and I am comforted by the fact that the Coalition is working on this bill. It would be a travesty to let this bill get out of hand and inadvertently permit abusers to prematurely get their guns back. HB1366 is just plain bad. We should tell our legislators to defeat this bill. Here is what the Coalition has to say about the bills:

HB 1165
www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2004/HB1165.html
An act relative to extending domestic violence protection orders. This bill increases the burden of proof on the plaintiff in motions for extensions of domestic violence protection orders.

The hearing on this bill focused on a man whose partner had been granted 3 extensions on her protective order against him, thus preventing the man from having his weapons returned. The legal community feels that the language is not clear, as "good cause" is not legal language. There will be sub committee meetings to work on this bill, which the Coalition will attend. Our goal is to prevent putting a burden on the victim to present evidence unless the extension is contested. The first work session is on February 3rd.

HB 1366
www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2004/HB1366.html
An act relative to penalties for violation of protective orders. This bill limits the requirement for detention of defendants arrested for alleged violations of protective orders to only those arrested for physical abuse violations.

HB 1366 also reduces this crime from a class A misdemeanor to a misdemeanor, and excellent testimony was given at the hearing about why this is unacceptable. The committee seemed to understand the necessity of the mandatory arrest policy and it is believed that the bill will be recommended ITL (inexpedient to legislate). It has been sent to sub committee and they had a work session on Feb. 3rd.

Please Save the Date

NHCADSV is requesting our support at the Task Force on Family Law meeting on Friday Feb 20th from 1pm-4pm at the Legislative Office Building in Concord. The Task Force is a legislatively mandated committee working to find ways to reduce acrimony within the family law arena. The focus of the February 20th meeting will be on the issue of domestic violence, as several members of the committee have expressed grave concerns that women are often abusing and falsifying protective orders for their own personal gains. Guest speakers at this meeting will include Murray Strauss and County Attorney Mark Hathaway. The Coalition would greatly appreciate our attendance and support at this meeting.

As this is Seacoast NOW's first legislative alert, we wanted to give you some help in understanding the New Hampshire legislative process. Below are some helpful links that tell you how to find bills, find your legislators addresses, etc. We hope this is helpful.

NH Legislature website and links

General Court:
www.gencourt.state.nh.us

From there you can go to links for the House, the Senate, and information about legislation; From the House link, for example, you can go to Who’s My Legislator, Members with Email and numerous other useful links. Take some time to explore. To poke around the other two branches of government, start at:

www.state.nh.us

To get to listings of House or Senate committee rosters, with links to members:

NH House Committees:
www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ie/billstatus/hsecommittees.asp
NH Senate Committees
www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ie/billstatus/sencommittees.asp

To get information on a particular bill:
www.gencourt.state.nh.us/ie/billstatus/quickbill.html

From there you can go to Bill Text (for actual bill language, sponsor names, and committee referral) or to Docket (for information on hearings, work sessions, actions taken on bill). Check the Docket for actions that may have taken place since our last e-bulletin!

To look at House or Senate calendars, listing bills to be voted on in upcoming session, hearings, and other legislative activities:

House Calendar:
www.gencourt.state.nh.us/hcaljourns
Senate Calendar:
www.gencourt.state.nh.us/scaljourns

This is another place to look to keep up on legislative activities "between" editions of our e-bulletin. In the House, you’ll see committee "blurbs" with their recommendations to the full House on each bill to be voted on (including minority blurbs in the case of some split votes). The journals are a record of actions taken by the full House or Senate, including roll call votes.

For more information, email Seacoast NOW at info@seacoastnow.org.

Last Updated February 5, 2004