What Just Happened? Mar. 14 NH House Session Recap—“Close only counts in horseshoes” Edition
I prefer to start my recaps with a summary of the good things that happened during the previous session day—no matter how few and far between they were. But this week it’s a challenge. Although here were a handful of positives during Thursday’s session of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, there were boatloads of close votes that went the wrong way—especially for supporters of public education and fair elections.
Many featured discouragingly small margins.
Losing high-stakes votes in the House has real consequences because the four vote GOP majority in the Senate and the presence of a GOP governor in the corner office can work together to put bad legislation on a glide path. As a result, attendance by representatives from both parties is very much in the spotlight. On this particular day, Democrats and Republicans both had six no-shows, which given the slight GOP majority opened the door to Dems losing many close votes—which sadly is exactly what happened. Worth noting is that the two new Democratic reps who were the winners of their special elections last Tuesday, Jennifer Mandelbaum of Portsmouth and Erick Johnson of Lee, weren’t available to vote because they won’t be sworn in until March 27–which means we also won’t have them for the upcoming March 21 session day.
The Good
“Freedom to Read” bill passes. This bipartisan bill passed 206-169. It balances the constitutional rights of students to access a wide variety of materials from their the school library with the need to maintain local control over school policies governing the selection of materials, while also allowing due process for parents with concerns about specific library materials. HB 1311 authorizes New Hampshire cities and towns to set their own community standards for both selecting and for challenging books and other materials—a practice that is aligned with recent US Supreme Court decisions. It also prohibits communities from banning materials on the basis of authors’ or subjects’ age, sex, gender identity, race, creed, color, marital status, familial status, physical or mental disability, national origin, sexual orientation, or viewpoint.
Fiscally irresponsible constitutional amendment blocked. CACR 15 was defeated 183-185 (but as a constitutional amendment would have required a 3/5 vote to pass anyway). Had it been passed in both chambers and ratified by the voters, a 2/3 vote would be needed to pass any new tax or fee or to issue state bonds. Passing this amendment came with the very real consequence of blowing a hole in future state budgets. It would have effectively allowed a minority of legislators to hold the rest of the legislature hostage in order to block funding or force cuts for programs and services they don’t like. Moreover, with inflation and the inevitability of legislative spending stalemates, the value of unchanged taxes and fees would steadily erode until funding for critical programs would become nearly impossible. The good news for all the fiscal hawks out there? The legislature is still constitutionally required to pass a balanced budget; and new taxes and fees can still be voted down with a simple majority vote—and frequently have been.
Electric vehicle owners can keep parking their cars in NH parking garages...for now. HB 1332 was defeated 145-221. The bill would have banned electric vehicles from any parking garage in the state . The sponsor expressed concerns that EVs are heavier and more prone to fires than gas powered vehicles, which science tells us work by drawing gasoline from a large tank, mixing it with oxygen, and igniting it—a process which also occasionally leads to unintentional fires. Of the 12,000 EVs registered in New Hampshire, there have been two fires. Worth noting is that EVs must comply with the same fire and safety requirements as all other vehicles.
The Bad
Attempt to repeal racist divisive concepts law defeated. A bill, HB 1162, that would have repealed the Orwellian “Prohibition on Teaching Discrimination” statute—also known as the “divisive concepts” law—was killed for this session by 192-183 vote. The law—which amounts to legalized gaslighting and restricts free speech—bans teachers from having open and honest classroom discussions with students about issues like racism, segregation, and economic justice. Since being enacted in 2021 and signed into law by Gov. Sununu, it has intimidated many teachers into silence. With the potential for loss of their teaching certificates as punishment, it has led to teachers leaving the profession and has discouraged people joining it in the first place. More.
Zero accountability for runaway EFA voucher spending will remain the status quo. Two bills seeking to put financial guardrails on the state’s out-of-control “Education Freedom Account” school voucher system were defeated in close votes. The first, HB 1512, which would have restricted available funds for the program to budgeted amounts—a restriction all other state programs must abide by—was killed for the remainder of the session by House Republicans 187-185 after an earlier Ought to Pass motion failed by a single vote. The second, HB 1594, was also defeated 189-184. It would have established an annual review process to ensure a family remains financially qualified to receive voucher payments. Under current law, once a family initially qualifies, payments will continue no matter how much the family’s income may increase for the “school life” of the child. Although supporters continue to position EFA vouchers as an “anti-poverty” program, they refuse to adopt the same guardrails they insist other state anti-poverty programs adopt, including annual recertification of the family’s income. Since the program first went into effect, it has exceeded the amounts budgeted by a whopping $22 million. Without this legislation, the EFA voucher program will continue to have a blank check going forward.
Bill penalizing those who threaten or harm election workers or tamper with electronic ballot counting devices is killed. HB 1364 would have made threatening or assaulting election workers a felony, made publicizing an election worker’s personal information a Class A misdemeanor, and made tampering with electronic voting systems a Class B misdemeanor. The bill was put forward in response to the actions of Trump supporters in Georgia and election deniers in our own state. It was killed for this session 189-184 after House Republicans moved to indefinitely postpone it without allowing debate.
Bill passes upending exceptions to voter ID laws and threatening the ability of thousands to vote. As an editorial in the Keene Sentinel concisely put it earlier in the month, “HB 1569 is the latest GOP attempt to keep eligible voters away from the NH polls”. The bill fundamentally changes the New Hampshire voting registration process by requiring identification in order to vote—with no exceptions. Currently, voters who either don’t have identification or who forget to bring documentation with them proving residency and/or eligibility are allowed to vote after completing an affidavit attesting to their residency and eligibility. A follow-up process verifies their eligibility. If the bill reaches the finish line and becomes law, it would serve to keep many low-income voters, minority voters, and college students from participating in our elections. More.
NH House gives in to election deniers and conspiracy theorists. By a 189-185 vote, HB 1557 was killed. The bill would have required the Secretary of State to enter into a membership with the Electronic Registration Information Center—an association of states that provide public voter information to a secure central database that can identify voters registered in New Hampshire who no longer live in the state. It provides an alternative to wholesale checklist purges—the preference of former President Trump, the My Pillow Guy, and election deniers and conspiracy theorists everywhere—which often result in eligible voters being expelled from the checklist and forced to re-register. Meanwhile in a separate vote, the House also passed HB 1369 191-181. Under the bill, checklists would be purged of voters who haven’t voted for 4 years once every 4 years instead of the current 10 years. More.
Independent redistricting voted down—again. CACR 19, a constitutional amendment that would have established an independent commission to draw boundaries for state and federal elections failed to with the required 3/5 vote for passage. While Democrats were joined by three Republicans in voting for the amendment, the other 189 GOP votes against it were more than enough to kill it.
Optional local public safety assessment fee fails—again. HB 1254, a bill that would have authorized cities and towns like Portsmouth that attract large numbers of workers and/or tourists beyond their populations to charge up to a $2/night fee to help defray additional public safety and traffic costs, was defeated by a 195-171 vote. Ten New Hampshire city mayors, including Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern, wrote to representatives in support of this legislation.
The Ugly
NH voters want housing and childcare; GOP House gives them…brass knuckles??? By a vote of 198-175, HB 1276 passed with the overwhelming support of NH House Republicans. It repeals the current prohibition against carrying or selling so-called “street fighting weapons”, including blackjacks, brass knuckles, and something called a “slung shot”. Passage of the bill is sure to delight all NH street fighters, bar brawlers, loan sharks, and assorted thugs and face-wreckers over the age of 18. The argument for the bill was that these weapons should be allowed for self-defense purposes under the Second Amendment. What’s noteworthy is that earlier this year, we heard the same argument used to support a bill (that thankfully failed) which would have legalized the use of terminator robots powered by artificial intelligence to defend the property of local sociopaths. More.
Depressed? Time to Get Busy Instead
Something to keep in mind when when bad bills are passed early in the year in the House is they must also be passed in the Senate. Before that can happen, there must be another set of public hearings where interested parties can weigh in, raise concerns, and work together to help stop bad legislation from becoming law.
But this won’t happen if you get discouraged or simply yell at your phone or computer screen. It’s important to let Senators know EXACTLY how you feel by either speaking out at public hearings, signing in for or against a bill using the Senate remote sign-in page, or emailing your thoughts directly to members of the Senate committee that will be voting on the bill.