In this final edition of the 2021 session of State House Watch Radio, Maggie Fogarty and Grace Kindeke of the AFSC-NH program revisit the season with co-hosts Emmett Soldati of Somersworth and Jen Dube representing 350NH.

They spend some time on the June 24 rally at the State House, for a People's Budget, and review some of the high points of their efforts contributing to the radio show during this extraordinarily challenging legislative session.

Following that, Maggie and Grace bring back Minority Leader Renny Cushing, for a wide ranging recap of the year of the pandemic, and of the FreeStaters, in the New Hampshire House.

Some of Renny's topics include:
the role of the Minority Leader
a robust minority of 186 members
right to work law
allies on the outside of the legislature
masks and social distancing in the legislature
limited use of remote technology, and a related lawsuit
the free state agenda
Governor Sununu's stance on social engineering in the budget
education
the future of retained bills
gun violence

And finally of course, we mourn the recent passing of Susan Bruce, State House Watch's researcher and writer, and a former producer and station manager at WNHN.

As the legislative year lurches to a close, Maggie Fogarty and Grace Kindeke of the American Friends' Service Committee interview two vital State House watchers, Phil Sletton, Policy Analyst at the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, and the Rev. Jason Wells, Executive Director of the NH Council of Churches.

Here is a brief rundown of the topics discussed in today's interviews:

HB1, the budget numbers.
HB2, an omnibus policy bill that is supposed to implement HB1, but can do more than that.
dept of energy
education, vouchers
Health and Human Services
back of the budget
affordable housing
revenue sharing
revenue estimates
tax reductions
dental benefits
Sununu Youth Services Center
family planning
paid family/medical leave
divisive concepts
emergency powers

Grassroots Campaign for a Peoples' Budget

courage not censorship
confronting the truth
spiritual principles around truth telling
confession, atonement, act of healing
systemic injustices, oppression
faith based immigration support
veto?
free speech issue going to the courts?
local school boards
Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Education
NH Interfaith Collaborative
Covid-19 Equity  Report

This week on American Friends' Service Committee - New Hampshire's State House Watch radio show, Maggie Fogarty and Grace Kindeke's guests are Dawn McKinney of New Hampshire Legal Aid, Brandon Lemay, housing justice organizer for Rights and Democracy, and Matt Lawrence, outreach volunteer with NH Mutual Aid Relief Fund.

Dawn McKinney speaks of the many struggles of low income people in the aftermath of Covid-19. She covers the core components of economic well being, including unemployment, child care, food aid, health care, and housing.

Brandon Lemay and Matt Lawrence focus in on the houseless population living in encampments, in particular in Manchester. Even after being evicted from housing, people are repeatedly evicted from their houseless encampments.

In this week's State House Watch, the 350nh's Outreach Team Member Alyssa Riley conducts an extensive interview with Revision Energy's Director of Electric Vehicle Innovation, Barry Woods.

They describe the transformation already well underway in automotive technology, from gas and diesel engines to electric motors. Along with that comes the shift from a world totally awash in the extraction and processing of fossil fuels to one focused on the growth of battery storage technology and renewable sourced electrical energy to charge those batteries.

Mr. Woods describes some of the governmental action and inaction that is impacting the transition of our transportation fleet to electric vehicles.

Finally, they look ahead to the growth of the Smart Grid, in which the cars' connection to the grid becomes a two-way channel. The battery storage capability of many individual connected vehicles actually becomes a part of the interconnected grid, contributing to both efficiency and resiliency of the grid, while the car's batteries are charged and ready to ride.