During a rare weekend session, State Representative Daniel Webster (R-Pembroke) rose in opposition to a compromise piece of legislation he was appointed to negotiate with House and Senate colleagues.  As a conferee on the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) Conference Committee, Rep. Webster was charged with ironing out competing proposals passed by the House and Senate including a section of the bill addressing mandatory minimum sentences for certain criminal offenders. The omnibus CORI initiative also aimed to rework the state’s criminal records keeping procedures by restricting employer access to an applicant’s criminal records.  The Conference Committee report permits the sealing of certain offender’s criminal records in two ways: felonies would be sealed after ten years and misdemeanors after five.

“I could not, in good conscience, sign-off on a report that contained language never debated before the House.  A full assembly of the lower chamber was never afforded the opportunity to examine a controversial issue like mandatory minimum sentencing.  It is a disservice to the public and this institution to lump a hot-button issue such as this into a compromise report without granting it an open and honest debate,” stated Webster.

With the end of the 2009-2010 legislation session looming, the House remained gridlocked on its final day of formal meetings.  Conference Committee reports similar to the CORI compromise, local petitions and veto overrides to the state budget remained on the docket while House leadership maneuvered to approve an expanded gaming proposal.  Rep. Webster joined a number of his Republican colleagues by expressing his frustration with the legislature’s reluctance to address a broad list of legislative priorities in a timely manner.

Webster stated, “I have never seen such a backlog of unfinished business like this during my time in the legislature.  While I am grateful to have been appointed to the CORI Conference Committee, there were a number of superfluous issues bogging down the overall legislative process while the issues that matter most right now like job creation and tax relief went largely unaddressed.”