The week ahead: Legislature taking up governor's priority bills this week
This could be a big week at the State House as Gov. Kelly Ayotte may secure support for two of her two priority bills — banning cites and towns from adopting sanctuary city policies and expanding access to taxpayer-subsidized, Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs).
The sanctuary city ban bill (SB 62) is in the form she wanted, while the EFA expansion (SB 295) outline under discussion would go far beyond what Ayotte had called for in February in presenting her two-year state budget plan.
EFA plans
First-term Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, has moved another step closer to getting her EFA proposal that, starting in the 2025-2026 school year, would erase any income eligibility cap on parents who could receive the scholarships to send their child to any private, religious, alternative public or home school program.
Sullivan's bill limits enrollment in EFAs to 10,000 a year; currently just over 5,000 parents have EFAs that average just over $5,000 apiece.
Sullivan's EFA expansion coming close to reality
The House of Representatives will vote Thursday on minor changes to the expansion of Education Freedom Accounts that State Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, has championed.
The House Education Funding Committee crafted its own amendment that contains all the principles of Sullivan's bill while adding some implementation changes in future years if interest doesn't approach that 10,000 limit. In both versions that number could get bumped up to 12,500.
The House had earlier passed its own bill (HB 115) to erase the income cap in 2027 after raising the family income threshold in 2026 from 350% to 400% of the federal poverty level.
Ayotte's plan is quite different. It would lift all income eligibility, but make future EFAs available only to parents who have their children enrolled in public schools and want to take them out.
According to numerous studies, more than three-fourths of EFAs given out to date have gone to families that already had children enrolled in non-public schools.
The full House will consider the bills when it meets on Thursday.
Budget hearing
The Senate Finance Committee will hold its one and only public hearing on the state budget in Representatives Hall Tuesday afternoon.
House to vote on firearms education courses in public schools
House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, pictured here during a recent debate, is proposing to require firearms education for all public school students.
Then on Friday afternoon it opens its first public 'discussion' about what that spending plan should look like.
Senate Democrats have protested the lack of hearings in the evening so working people could attend.
They have sponsored their own 'They Cut You Out Tour' listening sessions recently in Hampton and Laconia.
Safety and more
On Wednesday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee holds its all-important work session aimed at coming up with the estimates for state tax and fee collections that will provide the basis for spending levels in the Senate's budget plan.
Safety Commissioner Robert Quinn and his team are lobbying hard for legislation (SB 54) to change state law regarding a motorist accused of driving drunk who refuses to consent to a blood alcohol test.
Presently, there is no penalty for declining the test and Quinn said that's why New Hampshire has the highest rate in the country of those who refuse to take it — over 70%.
His preferred, Senate-passed bill would increase penalties for those who refuse and allow a judge to waive or lower punishment for those who agree to take the test even if they flunk it.
House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, has proposed a sweeping add-on amendment to the bill that would mandate an 'age appropriate,' firearms training course in all public schools.
Under the design, by the 2026-27 school year all K-12 students shall get instruction with the focus on those in grades 6-12 to include 'basic firearm mechanics, safe handling principles, secure storage practices and an overview of state and federal firearms laws.'
A hearing on Roy's amendment is scheduled for Friday morning.
Key House committee votes on Murphy's housing priority bill
Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, has sponsored 10 bills to promote more affordable housing but a House panel passes judgement this week on his favorite, a bill (SB 84) that would set maximum lot sizes in at least half of the available land in cities and towns.
Later that day Roy's panel is scheduled to make a recommendation on the amendment along with two others Ayotte supports to impose minimum mandatory jail terms for major fentanyl possession with intent to sell (SB 14) and anyone who sells drugs that causes the death of another (SB 15).
Some other important bills that political observers will be following include:
• Tenant eviction law (HB 60): A Senate panel takes testimony Tuesday on the House-passed measure that allows landlords to evict anyone after termination of a lease if they can't reach agreement on the new rent and give that party 60 days notice.
• Starter home limits (SB 84): The House Housing Committee on Tuesday will decide whether to support the ambitious plan of Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, to limit house lot sizes. If adopted, 50% of all available house lots could be no more than half an acre in size if the property has town water and sewer and no more than two acres if the parcel has neither.
• Sherrill's Law (SB 273): The House Transportation Committee will consider the Senate-passed bill to require all motorists to give a 'wide berth' to anyone along the highway there due to an emergency.
State Police Staff Sgt. Jesse Sherrill was killed in 2021 while providing assistance to a work crew on I-95 when a tractor-trailer struck and crushed his cruiser.
The driver pleaded guilty to felony negligent homicide and was given a one-year prison term with a longer term suspended for 20 years upon his release.
• Child sex trafficking (SB 262): This bill would increase the prison term for sex trafficking of a child under the age of 18 from a mandatory seven- to 30-year sentence to one that would be at least 18 years to life in prison.
• House bills on borrowed time: During its own session Thursday, the Senate will consider killing outright 16 House-passed bills, including one that would erase a buffer zone that critical access hospitals (HB 223) have since competing health care services can't be located within 15 miles of their businesses.
Rep. Mark McLean, R-Manchester, authored this bill that attracted strong opposition from the New Hampshire Hospital Association.
Other bills headed for the trash heap in the Senate would double the legal possession limits of marijuana for medically eligible patients (HB 190) and permit adults to possess blackjacks, slung shots and brass knuckles (HB 207).
The Senate is looking kindly on another social issue priority of House Republicans, a bill to make it easier for parents to claim a religious exemption to the requirement that their child receive a vaccine (HB 358).
The Senate proposes to add a technical amendment at the request of officials with the Department of Health and Human Services.
klandrigan@unionleader.com
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