New Hampshire General Court - House of Representatives

House of Representatives

The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 103 districts across the state created from divisions of the state's counties each making up about 3,000 residents for every one legislator. If the same level of representation were present in Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives would have approximately 99,000 members according to current population estimates.

Unlike in many legislation halls, there is no central "aisle" to cross, instead there are five sections with aisles between them. Party seating location is not enforced as seating is often decided on the personal preference of the legislator except in the case of the sixth section, which is the speaker's seat at the head of the hall.

Historically, the House was dominated by the Republican Party, which held a 249–151 majority at the end of the 2004-6 session. However, even with this 98-vote majority, the Republicans were often divided between the more conservative House Republican Alliance and moderates known as the Main Street Republicans. The division was approximately 141 voting with along HRA lines and 110 voting along Main Street lines if the difference is considered to be the 50% line of the HRA's 2004 scorecard. However, in the 2006 election, the Democrats swept into control of the chamber and held a majority for four years. In November 2010, Republicans won by landslides in both the House and the Senate.

In recent years a strong bi-partisan or independent Libertarian-informed contingent that have taken workshops via non-partisan rights and Libertarian-oriented groups as the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance of about 20% have, according to its site, led to growing libertarian- and Green-interest proposals and statutes. These include proposals re-affirming jury rights, proposing tax-reduction and voluntary services alternatives, calling for medical marihuana legalization, study of state-caused pollution, licenses simplification, etc.