What Just Happened? January 3-4 NH House Session Recap
Last week’s session of the New Hampshire House of Representatives was a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly—with an extra dose of ugly.
On January 3 and January 4, the House met to vote on 2023 bills that were “retained” for additional work. Included were a number of priority bills for both sides, so attendance was critical.
Here are the highlights and the lowlights.
THE GOOD
Bipartisan Bail Reform. To the surprise of many observers, one of the loudest and most contentious battles in the legislature over the past several years, could finally be on its way to a resolution. Without debate, the House passed a package of four heavily amended bills that address public safety pain points and a complex mix of systematic issues with the bail system. Critically, the reform package also adds protections not only for those accused of crimes, but also for domestic violence victims. You can learn more about the specifics here. As one of a group of Democratic and Republican legislators who worked on the compromise over the summer and the early fall, it’s good to see progress made on an important public safety issue without further criminalizing poverty or jeopardizing the rights of people accused, but not yet convicted, of crimes—a point I made in an Op-Ed with my colleague Rep. Linda Harriott-Gathright. HB318 and HB653 now cross over to the Senate for additional votes and public hearings. However, because SB249 and SB252 were previously passed in the Senate, the Senate has the option of concurring with the changes made by the House—or requesting committee of conference.
Expanded Drug Checking. Another highlight was the 212-161 passage of HB470–a bill I wrote and sponsored that would save lives by expanding legalized drug checking beyond fentanyl and xylazine test strips. The bill is needed because new threats are continually entering the street drug supply, including nitazene—a drug up to 40 times more powerful than fentanyl that can’t be detected using fentanyl test strips. More here. I’ve also included the full text of my floor speech at the end of this update.
Election Modernization. HB447, a bill directing the Secretary of State to create a system to allocate Help America Vote funds to municipalities for the purchase of new voting equipment, passed easily 311-62. Passing by a closer 195-72 margin was HB463, which directs the Secretary of State to set up an online election portal to make registration easier.
Landfill Siting. HB602 passed 226-145. It would establish a two-step application process for siting landfills in the state. It sets up a preliminary application process to identify disqualifying issues at the outset. More.
Unemployment Benefits. HB190, a mean-spirited bill that would have reduced the number of weeks of unemployment benefits at a time when unemployment is very low was killed on a voice vote.
THE BAD
Arbitrary Sunset on Medicaid Expansion Remains. A bill that would have permanently extended the Granite Advantage health care program that serves low-income residents was scuttled 191-183. The vote to kill SB263 leaves the program in place for the next seven years, as agreed to in compromise legislation last year. Lawmakers will have to decide at that time whether to continue it. The sunset creates uncertainty for program participants, health care providers and business interests looking to develop New Hampshire’s workforce. More.
Ranked Choice Voting Tanked. HB345, a bill that would have enabled ranked choice voting for state party primaries and municipal elections, was defeated 207-170. Meanwhile a separate bill to enact ranked choice voting for all statewide elections, HB350, failed by an even larger 248-128 margin. Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates by preference, meaning they can submit ballots that list not only their first-choice candidate for a position, but also their second, third and so on.
THE UGLY
The Anti-Transgender Agenda. Under the smokescreen of “protecting children” and “vital records integrity”, the House took action on four bills related to gender-affirming health care, transgender rights, and birth records. The bills that passed are all expected to pass in the Senate, leaving the final decision on whether or not they become law up to Gov. Sununu.
With the 199-175 passage of HB619, doctors and other health professionals would be prohibited from carrying out gender reassignment surgery to anyone in New Hampshire under 18. The bill would take the decision out of the hands of parents, medical professionals, and patients. It also would prohibit health care workers from referring minors to facilities out of state that offer those procedures. More here.
HB368 was killed 190-185. Unlike HB619, this bill would have protected the right of families to make their own healthcare decisions with respect to transgender care and services for minors.
HB396 passed 192-184. It would carve out a huge exception to New Hampshire’s anti-discrimination law by allowing the state to recognize and separate people based on their biological sex in public toilet facilities, sports, and correctional institutions.
HB264 would have simplified the process for changing gender on a birth certificate. But the 191-185 vote to kill it ensures transgender people seeking a change will need to obtain a court order—a lengthily and potentially costly process—instead of simply allowing the change when accompanied by a notarized statement from a qualified health provider.
Background Checks On Non-Public School Employees and Volunteers. The need to protect children evidently doesn’t extend to protecting them from predators by requiring background checks for volunteers and employees of private and religious schools that accept public funds. HB628, a bill that would have required criminal background checks for private school personnel, including domestic abuse, child pornography, and sexual assault, was killed 195-178.
———————————————————
MEUSE HB470 FLOOR SPEECH
Mr Speaker,
Every 4-1/2 minutes in our country, someone dies of a drug overdose. In the year that just ended, the CDC estimates over 112,000 Americans will lose their lives to overdoses, with young people among the hardest hit.
112,000 people is roughly the same population as the city of Manchester
For years, legislators like us have rightly supported new law enforcement funding and creative initiatives to battle this epidemic. We’ve also championed and funded new treatment strategies. And with last year’s legalization of fentanyl and xylazine test strips, we’ve also taken steps to lower the risk for people who continue to use drugs.
But the overdoses, the deaths, and the shattered lives continue to pile up.
And that’s why HB470 is so important. At its most basic level, what this bill does is gives people the power to help themselves. And it does that by making it easy to find out if a drug they bought on the street has unexpected substances in it that can kill them.
During testimony on this bill, we heard that fentanyl and xylazine are far from being the only dangerous drugs out there that are causing fatalities. Often in combination with opioids and other street drugs, new, unwanted, and harmful chemicals are increasingly ALSO part of our state’s illegal drug supply.
Already in New Hampshire, levimisole, an anti-parasitic drug that causes body sores similar to xylazine, is showing up in NH cocaine supplies. Meanwhile, benzodiazepine, which enhances the effects of opioids but greatly increases the risk of overdoses, is also starting to show up in NH’s opioid supply. Even worse, in other states, a new synthetic opioid called nitazene is showing up in the drug supply. It’s also killing people. Depending on the formulation, nitazene compounds can be 2-to-50 times more deadly than fentanyl.
And what’s even more scary? You can’t detect nitazene with a fentanyl test strip, and, as far as I’ve been able to determine, there are no test strips for nitazene. But nitazene can be detected by laboratory equipment used by an agency authored by the state, a county, or a municipality to provide harm reduction services.
While we would like to think we have time for a breather when it comes to legislation like this, the fact is we no longer have the luxury of thinking we’re in a stable situation—because we’re not. We continue to be in an emergency situation that we need to keep treating like an emergency situation.
As amended, HB470 would add precise definitions for drug checking, drug checking equipment like test strips, and the harm reduction activities that are eligible for the exemption from our drug paraphernalia law. It also offers legal protection for people who work for clinics and health agencies that provide drug checking equipment and other harm reduction services that may be authorized by the state, by a county, by a municipality, or by a public health agency. This is legal protection that people who are on the front lines of our opioid crisis don’t have now.
It would also allow new opioid reversal agents that are potentially more effective on more types of drugs than naloxone to be used as the FDA approves them. Without a bill like HB470, one of us would need to file a bill to include a new reversal agent by name in our RSAs before it could be legally administered in New Hampshire—a delay that could take a year ore more.
From a big picture perspective, what this bill does is move us away from a purely reactive approach that depends on legislators like us to file and pass a new bill every single time a new, life-saving innovation becomes available. HB470 makes it possible to move to a more flexible approach where new drug checking innovations can be deployed as they become available with the support of state, law rather than state law acting as a barrier.
Another benefit of wider-spread drug checking is a clearly picture of the illegal drug supply itself. Drug checking results can give harm reduction advocates and law enforcement real data on emerging threats and potential hot spots.
Are there things about this bill that are issues for some of us?
Absolutely. Under the bill a person can’t be arrested for simply possessing a nominal amount of a controlled drug for testing purposes. We defined this amount as 10 milligrams, which is the quantity recommended by the CDC and the amount allowed by most states with similar laws. Just so you know, in powder form, this would be just enough to cover Abraham Lincoln’s beard on a penny.
Are smaller quantities of drugs like fentanyl enough to kill a person? Yes they are. But as a practical matter, you actually need to be able to see a drug to test it. And as a simple matter of logic which scenario is preferable? Check the drug, find out it contains a harmful substance, and don’t take it? Or don’t test it because you know you can be arrested even for carrying the tiny amount needed for testing—and find out the hard way that it can kill you? With drug checking, harmful health effects and overdoses can be avoided. But without it, they’re inevitable.
One more thing. Something I understand as well as anyone in this body is the strong desire many of us have not to coddle drug users and to keep sending a loud and clear message that New Hampshire won’t tolerate illegal drug use. But you know what? You can’t send someone a message when they’re already dead. And the people who are dying are our sons, our daughters, our husbands, our wives, our other family members, and our neighbors.
Colleagues, this isn’t an enabling bill. It’s a life-saving bill and we’re still very much in an emergency situation. In 2023, we took an important first step by legalizing fentanyl and xylazine test strips. But in the fight to save lives, your first step should never be your only step.
Please join me in voting YES on HB470.