The New Hampshire Business Review reports that a proposed bill which would have prohibited landlords from discriminating against tenants using section 8 federal housing vouchers went down in a blaze of tempers:
By the time the bill reached the Senate Judiciary Committee, landlord after landlord criticized the bill, arguing that they did not want to deal with the paperwork, inspections and possible housing upgrades that the program requires. The Senate scrapped the bill and replaced it with a study commission.
Rep. Sylvia Gale, D-Nashua, offered to scrap the Section 8 portion of the bill, but keep the anti-discrimination requirements for veterans who take part in a program similar to Section 8 as well as victims of domestic violence.
But Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, wouldn’t hear any of it. “You are forcing landlords to do business with the federal government,” she said.
When Rep. Peter Sullivan, D-Manchester asked about compromising on the domestic violence part of the bill, she held up the study committee bill passed by the Senate. “This is the Senate position,” she said firmly.
Then it was the House’s turn to balk. Sullivan called the commission a fig leaf. Sen. Bette Lasky, D-Nashua, urged that the House conferees not walk away from an opportunity to bring everyone to the table, arguing that a “fig leaf is preferable to what is under it.”
When Gale lashed out that the Senate was turning its back on veterans and victims of domestic violence, Carson said the House was being “disrespectful” and that she was not insensitive to domestic violence issues. The House refused to agreed to a study commission, killing the bill.