• HB 1704, known as a Right to Work bill for public employees, was voted Indefinitely Postponed (IP), 177-159.  This is a major legislative win because the bill cannot be resurrected again this term and nothing substantially similar can come before the House for the rest of the year, even a bill amended in the Senate and sent back to the House. Sponsored by Republicans, this legislation would have required municipalities and towns to balance multiple labor contracts for the same position and could have meant management complexity and cost for those communities, possible lawsuits, and, thus, possible tax increases – in addition to weakened workers’ rights.
  • HB 1793, passed in February in the House and pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee, forbids public colleges and universities from regulating the possession or carrying of firearms and non-lethal weapons on campus, forcing UNH and other schools to allow guns on campus with no restrictions.  This bill overrides the policies of the schools that have determined what their families want for campus safety. House Republicans also proposed and passed three similar firearms-related bills, HB 1108, HB 1240 and HB 1279.
  • HB 1084 was sponsored by Democrats, but the bill died without a vote taken. This would have required that any person served with a domestic violence protective order must turn over their firearms. According to Everytown Research & Policy, “The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely the woman will be killed.”
  • HB 1062 authorizes the Secretary of State to audit randomly the “citizenship qualification of registered voters.” Republican-sponsored, it passed in the House 181-152.
  • HB 1706. This bill, passed in the House, would cancel funding for the refugee resettlement program in the New Hampshire’s department of health and human services and prohibits spending state funds on refugee resettlement.

 

On the Education Front

  • HB 1300, a Republican-sponsored bill, was passed along party lines.  This legislation allows municipalities to vote on tax caps on the school and superintendents’ offices portions of property taxes. More at NHPR.
  • The House passed HB 1121, which lists “elements” to determine adequate education costs and omits including budgetary items such as school nurses, superintendents, and administrative services.  More about this Republican-sponsored bill at InDepthnh.com