Committee votes down birther bill
14-3 vote suggests House kill proposal
By Matthew Spolar / Monitor staff
February 15, 2012

Deterred by the "circus" surrounding the issue, a requirement that presidential candidates submit certified copies of their birth certificates was panned in the House Election Law Committee yesterday.

House Bill 1164 was sponsored by Republican Reps. Susan DeLemus of Rochester and Larry Rappaport of Colebrook, both of whom signed on to an effort last year to challenge President Obama's placement on the primary ballot because they doubt his Americancitizenship.

DeLemus said her bill does not take effect until January 2013, meaning it is not another attempt to keep Obama off the November ballot. The legislation initially required a certified copy of a candidate's original long-form birth certificate, but DeLemus said an amendment adopted yesterday reduced the requirement to a certified copy of a birth certificate.
...
"If this is to be considered at a future time, it could be considered on the basis of its merits alone and not any association with the controversy we've experienced," said Election Law Chairman David Bates, a Windham Republican, who voted against the bill. "Quite frankly, with the circus that ensued around this more recently it's really impossible to adequately, objectively consider the policy merits of this with the fiasco the press made out of it."

Zanda Rice Hawkins, who serves as the director of Granite State Progress, criticized Bates' attempt to cast HB 1164 as a policy-oriented bill, calling it "pure horse hockey."

[