NO CHECKPOINTS: Last year, New Hampshire recorded the fewest highway fatalities it's had in 51 years.

Peter Thomson, the coordinator of the New Hampshire Highway Safety Agency, said sobriety checkpoints are among the tools law enforcement uses to drive down the number of fatalities. “They are really important,” he said.

But this week, the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will hold a public hearing on House Bill 1452, which would prohibit sobriety checkpoints. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Room 204 of the Legislative Office Building.

According to Thomson, 46 sobriety checkpoints were held across the state last year by state police and 23 local law enforcement agencies. His agency provided $93,371 for the checkpoints.

Some years ago, state law changed to require that requests for checkpoints be made to superior court. The procedure used to stop vehicles during the checkpoints — such as every third, fourth or fifth automobile — also needed to be approved.

Thomson said law enforcement follows court orders exactly, so the Legislature will not have reason to change the law.

One of HB 1452's sponsors, Rep. Seth Cohn, R-Canterbury, said law enforcement has been abusing the system.

“We got a hold of the paperwork submitted by police to the court,” Cohn said. “It's been copied over and over again.”

He said the information in the requests for sobriety checkpoints is almost always the same and is often inaccurate.

“We're not for anybody driving while drunk,” Cohn said, “but the issue is those checkpoints not being used for what they said they would be used for. They are used for all manner of things but almost never for a DWI.”

But Thomson said checkpoints help prevent fatalities. Even with many more people on the road last year than there were 51 years ago, he said, the fatalities were the same.

“It's really quite a feat that the law enforcement community was able to pull together this year,” Thomson said.

He said law enforcement has to petition superior court to conduct a checkpoint, and petitions are granted 98 percent of the time.

Thomson said it takes about 90 seconds to go through a checkpoint, unless the driver has alcohol on his or her breath.

Drivers are given report cards they can send to his office, Thomson said, and 90 percent say: “Thanks very much. We don't want ... to share the road with a drunk.”

Thomson is hopeful the House can be persuaded to kill the bill.

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HOUSE STATIONERY: Some eyebrows were raised last week when Deputy Speaker Pam Tucker announced her candidacy for Republican national committeewoman in a news release through the official State House email distribution system.

Such wholly partisan announcements using taxpayer resources have been frowned upon in the past, but less so recently.

Not only was her statement on House stationery, so to speak, so was another official House distribution from Speaker William O'Brien and Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt backing her candidacy.

Democrats cried foul, citing the “prohibited activities” section of the State House Ethics Guidelines, which state: “Legislators shall not use state-provided services or facilities for private gain.”

“While Speaker O'Brien should be holding his leadership team to a higher standard, we won't be holding our breath,” said Harrell Kirstein, press secretary for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. “From Day 1, Speaker O'Brien has not only defended wildly inappropriate actions by members of his caucus, but joined their irresponsible behavior.”

He said they are using taxpayer-funded services to bolster their political ambitions.

House Chief of Staff Greg Moore said, “We offer this service to all representatives to put out announcements via our email list as long as it is in good taste.”

The service is offered to both Republicans and Democrats, he said. “From our prospective, we are providing more value to the services we give to the 400 members of the House.”

He noted the email distribution has included announcements about town hall meetings held by O'Brien, Tucker's announcement of a volunteer position, or awards or positions members have received. He noted O'Brien congratulated former Speaker Terie Norelli when she was elected president of the National Conference of State Legislators.

“It is something that certainly wouldn't be viewed by anyone as partisan or outside of realm of what we normally do inside the State House as a service to its members,” Moore said.

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SECOND TIME AROUND: Nearly a decade ago, one of the hottest and most contested issues was the deregulation of the electric industry. We're about to revisit it.

Thursday, the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee will hold a public hearing on HB 1238, which would require Public Service of New Hampshire to sell its generating stations.

The first time around, lawmakers stopped short of requiring Public Service to sell its stations after the Enron fiasco to manipulate electric prices caused rolling blackouts in California and outrage across the country.

The prime sponsor of HB 1238, Frank Holden, R-Lyndeborough, said he proposed the bill to have another debate on the issue.

He said he has received new emails and phone calls about the coal-fired Merrimack Station power plant in Bow and the $422 million scrubber to remove mercury and other pollutants from its emissions.

Union members would support the project, but environmentalists say it would be a waste of money for an aging coal-fired plant, he noted.

If the plant was owned by an independent operator who could not charge the cost back to ratepayers, Holden said, the business decision may have been a little different about spending that kind of money.

“My intent is to lay out the issues, let's debate it and see where it goes,” said Holden, who is the committee's vice chairman.

Mike Skelton, PSNH spokesman, said his company opposes the bill.

“It's a flawed bill that will hurt our customers,” he said, noting it appears some lawmakers have the impression deregulation is not complete. Lawmakers made the decision to allow PSNH to keep its generating stations, creating a system that is the best of both worlds for customers, he said.

Customers have the choice to buy electricity from either the energy market or PSNH, whichever is cheaper.

“We look forward to speaking to the committee and sharing the New Hampshire story so our customers can continue to benefit from the system we have in place,” Skelton said.

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EYEING THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL: Freshman Manchester state Sen. Tom De Blois has put together an exploratory committee to judge potential support for a run for the District 4 Executive Council seat being vacated by former Manchester Mayor Ray Wieczorek.

De Blois expects the committee to report back in a couple of weeks. “After that, I'll make an announcement based on that report,” he said.

He did say he has a “high level of interest” in the post, having been a businessman for 46 years. “I've been dealing with contracts and vendors all my life,” De Blois said. “It's a very important position; you are a watchdog over how departments spend their money.”

The council approves state contracts and approves or disapproves nominations for high-level government posts.

De Blois first ran for public office in 2010.

“Two years ago, I was a happy businessman watching the state going in the wrong direction,” he said, citing a huge deficit, a retirement system with a $4 billion unfunded liability and Democrats talking about an income tax to solve the problems.

“The feedback so far is very positive,” De Blois said.

If he decides to run for the Executive Council, the District 18 Senate seat would be open.

Manchester restaurant owner Chris Pappas, a longtime Democratic activist, has also said he is looking at a run for the Executive Council seat.

Wieczorek announced last week he would not seek another term on the council.

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LET THE CAMPAIGN BEGIN: Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Smith hired his first campaign worker last week, longtime political operative Tom DeRosa.

A graduate of St. Anselm College, DeRosa began his career in politics as field operations coordinator for Frank Guinta's successful 2005 mayoral campaign. He also served as field representative for Mitt Romney's New Hampshire 2008 primary campaign; was the Republican State Committee's political director during the 2008 general election; and founded the RedHampshire.com website.

He directed the party's online campaign and research efforts for the 2010 campaign.

“He has significant statewide experience in New Hampshire politics and campaigns and will contribute greatly to my efforts to build a successful organization across the state,” said Smith.

Smith and former U.S. Senate Republican candidate Ovide Lamontagne have announced they will seek their party's nomination for governor.

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POLITE DEATH: Two key bills to loosen restrictions on firearms were recommended for a polite death last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee after more than four hours of sometimes heated testimony.

The most controversial, House Bill 334, would prohibit public colleges from banning firearms on campuses and also prohibit banning firearms from facilities such as Verizon Wireless Arena, Fisher Cats Stadium, the state hospital and state-owned buildings at the Pease International Tradeport.

The committee voted, 4-0, to send that bill, along with HB 194, to interim study. If the full Senate agrees, the bill will essentially be killed at the end of the session.

Although the bills may be studied — although most senators and representatives will have little time for that as they campaign for reelection — there is nothing to compel the next Legislature, which will be sworn in in December, to take up the recommendations, which is why interim study is referred to as a polite death.

HB 194 would consider a rifle or shotgun to be loaded only if a cartridge was in the gun's chambers, not if cartridges were in the gun's magazine.

Current law states a rifle is loaded when there are cartridges in it — whether there is a round in the chamber or not. Current law forbids carrying loaded rifles in a vehicle.

The committee did not have enough time to decide on a recommendation for HB 536, which would do away with the permit requirement to carry a concealed weapon, but that is expected to meet the same fate this week when the committee meets again.

Gov. John Lynch said this month he would veto all three bills if any of them made their way to his desk.

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STATE OF THE STATE: Lynch will give his last State-of-the-State address to lawmakers Tuesday when they meet in joint session at 11 a.m.

While there is not likely to be any new initiatives in his last year in office, jobs and the economy are expected to be right, left and center in the governor's swan song.

He's also expected to talk about how the state has changed since he took office seven years ago.

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LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE: The House Education Committee last week voted to recommend two bills be approved that would withdraw the state from the federal No Child Left Behind Act, HB 1517 and HB 1413.

The Department of Education has said withdrawing from the program would cost the state $61 million in federal money, almost all of which would be sent to local school districts.

Garry Rayno writes State House Dome each week for the New Hampshire Sunday News. Email him at grayno@unionleader.com.