DURHAM, N.H. — Two weeks after making little headway, the New Hampshire House on Tuesday seemed to do everything.
In a brisk but ambitious session — its last of the year — the 400-member chamber took on an usually hefty agenda, passing dozens of “omnibus” mega-packages of legislation driven by unusual times.
Meeting for the second time at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, the chamber passed an overhaul of the absentee ballot process aimed at the COVID-19 pandemic; a prohibition on police chokeholds in non-life-threatening situations; rent protections; funds for expanding broadband; insurance mandates for abortion services; net metering expansion; closing sexual assault loopholes; and a measure allowing the import of drugs from Canada.
But a litany of the votes passed on party lines, evidence of lingering pandemic-era tensions between Democratic and Republican leadership that came to a boiling point earlier this month.
Republicans have raged against what they say is a lack of communication from Democrats since the coronavirus pandemic forced the House to stop meeting in March. They’ve contended for weeks that they were not sufficiently included in discussions over bill priorities, accusations that Democrats deny.
Three weeks ago, Republicans used their leverage to quash an effort to extend key deadlines that had been missed due to the pandemic, killing dozens of bills indiscriminately.
Since then, the state Senate took control over the process, taking advantage of scheduling rules that allow bills coming from the Senate to still be passed by the House.
For weeks, Senate committees have hammered together mammoth legislative packages of three to 10 bills — each bundled under themes — bringing back some House priorities that had been swept away.
On Tuesday, the House took up those packaged bills.
To start, the House passed a bill aimed at protecting both workers and voters during the coronavirus pandemic.
Representatives voted, 178-154, in favor of a bill that would permanently implement changes made to the state’s unemployment system during the state of emergency and would extend the federal Family Medical Leave Act to allow workers to take time off for virus-related reasons. It also would require paid leave for virus testing and state-provided personal protective equipment for small businesses.
And the House passed a measure to streamline the absentee voting process amid concerns about the coronavirus.
Based on the recommendations of a recent task force, the bill would create a new box to check that specifies the virus as the reason for not voting in person.
It also would allow voters to use one application to receive absentee ballots for both the Sept. 8 state primary and Nov. 3 general election.
And it would allow town officials to begin processing ballots several days before the election, though they could not view them or tally the votes until Election Day.
Opponents argued that the bill would violate the state Constitution, which allows absentee ballots only for those who are absent from their home towns or cities on Election Day or who can’t vote in person “by reason of physical disability.”
The state attorney general, however, has said that concern over the virus would qualify as a disability. The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously Monday, was sent to the governor on a vote of 221-101.
The assortment of end-of-year bills passed Tuesday will now head to the governor’s desk.