What Just Happened? March 13, 2025 NH House Session Recap—Special “Elections Have Consequences” Edition
In the aftermath of a disappointing May 13 session of the NH House, our legislature is well on the way to further crippling public education, eroding individual rights, increasing the risk of gun violence and suicide, and expanding our dependence on out-of-state energy sources. Here’s a quick wrap-up of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
A quick note: At this point on the legislative calendar, it’s important to realize that initial House votes approving legislation don’t necessarily mean a bill will become law. Some bills that pass will be referred to second House committees for more work and an additional up or down vote later on the calendar. Others will move on to the Senate, where they will have to run a gauntlet of additional public hearings and votes before they can reach the governor’s desk. Meanwhile, even some of the bills that are killed can sometimes find new life as amendments to other bills—even as add-ons to the state budget bill. Bottom line: while some genuinely bad legislation made it through the House last Thursday, every bill passed at this time of year—no matter how good or bad—still has a long way to go before it becomes law. There is also potential for even more harmful amendments to be added in the Senate. As Garry Rayno said in his column last week: “A good phrase to remember at this time of year is what former long-time State Employee Association Executive Director Denis Parker used to say frequently, ‘You can never rest until they go home for the summer.’”
THE GOOD
Wait…A Housing Bill That Requires the State and Communities to Work Together AND Respects Some Semblance of Local Control? More Please! HB 572-FN, establishing the “Partners in Housing” program, a low-interest loan and grant program under the housing champions fund to assist municipalities, counties, and developers in building workforce housing, passed by voice vote. The program would bring private developers, local governments, and the state of New Hampshire together to tackle our state’s housing crisis. It would reduce costs and accelerate production by identifying municipal and county-owned land suitable for development and expediting the planning board review process. Future housing investments under this program would be targeted to ensure the most efficient possible use of state resources in our efforts to increase housing supply. The bill had broad support from diverse stakeholders, including the Department of Business and Economic Affairs, the Business and Industry Association, the New Hampshire Municipal Association, AARP, and Stay Work Play.
THE BAD
NH Communities May Get Stuck with State-Imposed School Tax Cap. On a day when the GOP House Majority Leader derided people in town meetings across the state who voted down school tax caps as “tyrants”, his party succeeded in ramming through a bill that imposes a state-imposed tax cap on local school spending. HB-675 passed 190-185. It would create a spending cap that would override local control over school budgets and perpetuate funding disparities driven by differences in property wealth between communities. More.
NH Communities May Also Get Stuck with Funding Universal Eligibility for School Vouchers. Despite a flurry of opposition at the public hearing, HB 115, expanding eligibility for NH’s budget-busting school voucher program to the state’s most affluent families, passed 198-180. The bill would end income eligibility restrictions by 2027, and would more than double the amount property taxpayers are currently spending to keep the program afloat at a time when state and local budget concerns are threatening NH’s under-funded public schools. More.
“Let Them Eat…Vouchers!” HB 319, giving schools districts the option to eliminate mid-day transportation and meals for kindergartners passed 204-171. This unfortunate vote may lead many parents for forego kindergarten for their children, which could lead to many children not getting the head start they need. Another bill that would have made it easier for families to apply for free or reduced price school meals was killed 209-165. HB 646 would have required school districts to provide an online application to enroll in a federal school meals program that can save low-income families as much as $1,000 a year on average.
School “Health Classes” May Become “Anti-Abortion Classes”. HB 667 , requiring that public school health curriculums include instruction on abstinence and adoption, along with viewing fetal development videos that could also include abortion animations, passed 189-180. More.
Bail Reform May Be Demolished Despite Reduction in Violent Crime. At a time when violent crime in NH’s largest city is actually falling , a GOP bill that guts the 2024 bail reform compromise less than three months after it took effect, passed 204-175. Sold as a “tough on crime” bill by an alliance of law enforcement leaders and GOP politicians, HB 592 takes a hammer to the rights of anyone in NH accused of a crime. Under the bill, the newly created three-month old magistrate bail system that makes bail hearings possible on weekends would be abolished. The length of time an arrested person can be held without a hearing before a judge would also be increased from 24 hours including weekends and holidays to 36 hours hours, NOT including weekends and holidays. In the case of 12 felony-level crimes, the bill would also reduce the evidentiary standard allowing a person to be held in jail without bail from the current, more rigorous “clear and convincing standard” to “probable cause.” Since probable cause is the same standard police use in arrests, this change would effectively mean that no additional evidence would be needed to hold a person in jail. More.
The War on Immigrants Continues. HB 452 passed 198-162. It would away the ability of immigrants legally present in the United States—people with permission to work and pay taxes—to get a driver’s license.
“Who Needs Clean Energy When We Can Kill the Planet with the Dirty Stuff?” HB219, which would effectively eliminate the state’s only remaining incentive for local clean energy investments and make NH even further dependent on out-of-state energy and fossil fuel suppliers, passed 189-173. The move further reduces New Hampshire’s energy independence at a time when a combination of tariffs and TrumpFlation are starting to hit NH consumers.
Bill Killed to Make Election Day a Holiday. While holidays that celebrate our democracy, such as Memorial Day and Independence Day, are apparently fine with members of both parties, creating a holiday to actually make it easier for our citizens to better participate in that democracy was a bridge too far for House Republicans. HB 52 was killed by voice vote. While the bill wouldn’t have required businesses to give employees the day off, it would have required the give employees a window of time off during the day without reprimand to go to the polls.
THE UGLY
Gun Rights Groups Successfully Gaslight Mental Health Reporting Bill. HB 159, which would have required the state to report people involuntarily committed to a mental health facility, or adjudicated as incompetent to stand trial or innocent by reason of insanity, to the federal government for firearms background check purposes was tabled 193-187. To appease gun groups, the bill had been amended to require any relinquishment of firearms by a person involuntarily committed to a state mental health facility to be voluntary. It also removed a provision requiring police to seize the weapons if the person didn’t surrender them voluntarily. But that didn’t stop opponents from framing it (wrongly) as a “red flag” bill that would allow the confiscation of firearms from ordinary citizens. The tabling vote means the bill is effectively dead for this session unless it comes back as part of another bill. However, because the bill was tabled rather than killed outright, it can be refiled in 2026. Federal law prohibits people who have been adjudicated as seriously mentally ill or involuntarily committed from owning firearms. 47 other states report this information to the FBI firearms background check database. Not even the death of officer Bradley Haas, murdered by a man who would never have passed a background check had the state provided his information to the FBI, was enough to sway enough House Republicans to support the bill. More.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mark your Calendars! How are cuts to critical services in the State Budget going to impact YOU? Join NH House Democrats on Saturday, March 22nd from 10-12pm to tell legislators your personal stories. RSVP here. Unlike House Republicans, NH House Democrats actually do want to hear from you.
The House will be meeting again on Thursday, May 20th at 10am to debate and vote on 44 more bills. You can get a preview by reading the House Calendar.