NH House Rejects Bill to Expand Grafton County Commission

A bill to expand the Grafton County Commission from three to five members was resoundingly defeated following a floor vote last week by the New Hampshire House of Representatives. House Bill 643, sponsored by freshman state Rep. Joseph Barton, R-Littleton, and co-sponsored by state Rep. Susan DeLemus, R-Farmington, also sought to limit all commissioner terms to two years. Had it passed, the Grafton County towns of Bethlehem, Franconia, and Easton would have been in a new District 2 and the towns of Bath, Haverhill, Landaff, Lisbon, Littleton, Lyman, Monroe, and Sugar Hill would have been in a new District 4. Opponents said if made law, the bill would increase the size of government, cost taxpayers an additional $40,000 annually, and not one of Grafton County’s 26 delegation members co-sponsored it.