The week ahead: House and Senate to consider competing EFA expansion bills
Mar. 9—During another busy legislative week, the House of Representatives and state Senate will consider staking out their own positions regarding the expansion of gambling and eligibility for parents to receive taxpayer-paid Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs).
Policy committees will spend much of the time holding executive sessions on bills that already faced public hearings as the House and Senate each has less than a month to make their own recommendations by a deadline for this session.
Last month, Gov. Kelly Ayotte proposed to permit parents of all income levels to have access to EFAS, but only if their children were already enrolled in public school.
The House and Senate this Thursday will each debate their own changes that propose to go further than Ayotte's idea would.
State Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, proposed the bill (SB 295) to make EFAs universal for all families.
The Senate Education Committee instead is recommending endorsing that policy but then imposing a cap of 10,000 students in the program.
Currently there are about 5,200 students of parents who receive an EFA — averaging $5,200 apiece — to be spent to send their children to private, religious, alternative public or home school programs.
House Education Committee Chairman Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, countered with his own amended bill (HB 115) that would go to full universal access in the 2026-7 school year.
Under Ladd's proposal next year, families making up to 400% of the federal poverty level could get an EFA, up from the current 350% of FPL. This raises the income cap for a family of four from $103,600 to $128,600 annually.
House and Senate Democrats strongly oppose any expansion in the EFA, claiming the program does not have enough accountability and that full universal access would dramatically increase the taxpayer cost.
Slot machine bills have different effective dates
The House and Senate also have competing bills that would let charity casinos have slot machines or video lottery terminals.
The state Senate will vote on its own bill (SB 118) from Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton.
On Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee will take public testimony on the alternative plan (HB 728) from House Speaker Pro Tem Fred Doucette, R-Salem.
One of the biggest differences between the two bills is how they deal with the future of historic horse racing machines, the current video gambling game the Legislature approved in 2021.
Doucette's bill would make charity casinos all convert to slot machines by Jan. 1, 2028, while Lang's bill permits all these businesses to make the conversion on their own timetables.
On Tuesday, the Senate Election Laws and Municipal Affairs Committee considers a bill to move the state primary election from September to June (SB 222).
The Senate last year approved this measure while the House of Representatives wanted instead to move the primary up a few weeks to late August.
Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, will promote her bill (SB 460) also on Tuesday that would have the state assert a woman's right to an abortion throughout 24 weeks of pregnancy until the procedure is illegal except in cases of a risk to the mother's health or if the fetus has a fatal anomoly.
Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth, will promote on Wednesday a pair of bills for the state to study sweeping changes in federal policy sought by President Donald Trump.
The first (SB 303) would deal with the impact of Trump's plan to eliminate the federal Department of Education while the other (SB 304) would examine how the state's economy would fair under Trump tariffs on foreign imports.
Bail reform showdown in the House
The House on Thursday will debate changes to its bail reform law that have Ayotte's support (HB 592).
A coalition of left-leaning groups issued a strong statement in opposition to the changes that House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, offered.
"Returning back to a cash bail system would have devastating impacts on New Hampshire's community overall and especially for our communities of color, who already face disproportionate incarceration in our state, said The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, Manchester NAACP, American Friends Service Committee, Granite State Organizing Project, and Black Lives Matter New Hampshire.
"Bail should be based on the danger someone poses to the community, not on how much money they have in their wallet. In the old cash bail system, Granite Staters arrested for minor offenses who could not afford bail sat in jail awaiting trial, while others could remain in our community if they had the money."
State Reps. David Meuse and Buzz Scherr, both D-Portsmouth, are offering an amendment that would make a modest change in bail laws.
The House will also consider whether to adopt a requirement that school boards come up with policies to limit cellphone use in public schools (HB 781). The amended bill that has bipartisan support has no money in it.
klandrigan@unionleader.com
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