By Mya Blanchard, Nashua Ink Link
The purpose of the House of Representatives is to represent citizens. United States reps represent districts within each state, while state reps represent districts within the state.
To understand the difference, and what the House does, it’s important to know that all state governments are modeled after the federal government, with three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The federal executive branch is headed by the governor, while the state executive branches are headed by the governor.
The legislative branch consists of the House and Senate, which work together to pass laws. This is true for both the US legislative branch (also called Congress) and the state legislative branch, as they each have similar roles and follow similar processes.
US Representatives
The entire US House of Representatives is elected every two years, with 435 members divided among 50 states in proportion to the total population. New Hampshire has two state reps. Currently they are Ann Kuster and Christopher Pappas.
US reps have the power to impeach federal officials and elect the president in the case of a tie in the electoral college, as well as other responsibilities.
Congress (both the House and Senate) also has the power to declare war.
State Representatives
New Hampshire reps (also called the NH General Court) has 400 members across 204 voting districts across 10 counties. There is roughly one state rep for every 3,300 people in New Hampshire, which makes NH legislature the second largest governing body in the US, behind Congress.
Click here to find your US representative and State representative.
How a bill becomes law
Passing laws is one of the main responsibilities of the legislative branch, and the process is similar at the federal and state level in New Hampshire.
Congress
After Congress introduces a bill, it is referred to a committee for review (different committees oversee specialized policy areas).
The bill is then sent to a subcommittee where it is accepted, amended or rejected.
The bill is then referred to the full committee where the process is repeated, before going to the floor of the House of Representatives and Senate.
A conference committee – consisting of members of both chambers – meets to bring the bills from the House and Senate into one concise bill.
New Hampshire
For a bill to be presented to the legislature in New Hampshire, it must have a sponsor from someone in the legislative body to be submitted as a Legislative Service Request.
The bill is then given to the clerk of the Senate or the House, depending on which body sponsors the bill (all money bills – bills involving new means to raise money – originate in the House. This is true for state government as well as the federal government.)
Then the bill goes to a committee where there will be a public hearing, followed by committee deliberation and decision conducted during an executive session. A report is then submitted to the clerk of the House or Senate.
The bill then goes to the floor of the body in which it originated, then is sent to the other body, before going to a committee to be enrolled and sent back for amendment if need be. Once the bill is signed by the Speaker of the House or President of the Senate, it is forwarded to the Secretary of State who transmits it to the Governor.
The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock,The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.