The New Hampshire House voted this morning to pass a bill calling for a cold case homicide unit that will operate for the next four years.
The bill, which now goes to the Senate for consideration, calls for two state police detectives and a member of the Attorney General’s Office to work exclusively on unsolved murders.
HB 690 originally called for the unit to run through 2011 but the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee felt the unit would need more time to become established.
The House also voted through a number of other bills, sending them to the Senate on a single voice vote. They include:
HB 120, requiring carbon monoxide detectors in new and substantially rehabilitated homes and apartments;
HB 322, lowering the legal age to buy fireworks to 18 from 21;
HB 471, tightening laws against shoplifters;
HB 395, requiring electric utilities to provide customers with a market-priced option to purchase power generated with renewable resources;
HB 592, requiring hospitals to report to the state incidents of 28 so-called adverse events, where errors in treatment or surgery harm patients;
HB 585, setting standards for outdoor lighting under a new “dark skies” policy” to emphasize efficiency and reduce nighttime glare.
The House killed one bill on evaluating home schooled children, HB 367, after the Education Committee voted to continue work on a similar home schooling bill.
It also killed two bills attempting to extend civil union laws to include heterosexual couples