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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
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The week ahead: Hot button bills face lawmakers in final, regular week of business
The final week of regular business for the New Hampshire Legislature features showdown debates on many top issues, from parental rights and mandatory prison terms for drug dealers, to a 'bell-to-bell' ban on cellphone use in public schools and universal access to Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs). While much of the attention at the State House will be on the finishing touches to a proposed two-year state budget in the Senate, lawmakers face a Thursday deadline for final action on all other bills. Once they clear those decks, the closing weeks of the session will come down to the work of committees of conference to be named to thrash out differences between competing versions of the same bill. Gov. Kelly Ayotte has listed parental rights as a priority issue for her to achieve in 2025 and the House and Senate each have their own versions (HB 10 and SB 72) to debate this week. The real battle is in the House where House Child and Family Law Committee Chair Debra DeSimone, R-Atkinson, has crafted a compromise said to have the backing of Senate GOP leaders. DeSimone defended the most controversial provision that could prevent minors from being able to obtain contraception without parental consent. 'Disastrous consequences' 'No children should ever be prescribed any medical procedures or medication without parental consent to protect all children from undue and unnecessary harm by parental knowledge and information provided concerning family history,' DeSimone said. 'This bill is necessary to continue to build a strong, healthy society.' Rep. Heather Raymond, D-Nashua, said such a policy could have disastrous consequences. 'In states like Texas which now require parental permission for birth control, teen pregnancy rates have increased along with the rates of maternal and infant death,' said Raymond, noting that New Hampshire has the lowest teen birth rate in the U.S. House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, has reworked a bill (SB 14) that also has Ayotte's backing to impose longer minimum mandatory prison sentences for possessing large amounts of fentanyl or selling drugs that cause someone's death. 'It's time for New Hampshire to reclaim its place in New England as the state that dealers fear to tread,' Roy said. Roy's proposal would allow a judge to impose a more lenient sentence if the offender met several conditions including a clean record prior to this latest conviction. 'Under this bill, if a defendant is cooperative with law enforcement, not a leader in a drug dealing organization, does not have a recent conviction for the same thing, and the charges do not involve violence, a judge is free to use their discretion,' Roy said. Rep. Buzz Scherr, D-Portsmouth and an appellate law expert, said the bill is a political talking point, not an answer to dealing with deadly overdoses. 'Mandatory minimums for fentanyl continue to have a superficial political attraction as an easy solution, but, they always fail in practice,' Scherr said. 'We do not need to spend even more money on prisons for a solution that doesn't work.' Firearms training in public schools Roy championed another sweeping and controversial provision, adopting a mandatory one-hour firearms training course in K-12. A former police officer, Roy attached his provision as an amendment to an unrelated bill (SB 54) that would increase the penalty for someone accused of driving drunk who refuses to take a blood alcohol test. The House and Senate will each vote on two bills (SB 295 and HB 115) allowing all families regardless of income to receive a taxpayer-paid scholarship to help offset their student attending a private, religious, alternative public or home school program The House is likely to approve Ayotte's approach to cellphone use, which is to direct school boards to adopt policies that restrict access throughout the school day (SB 206). Both the House and Senate have passed versions of a more lenient reform that would give school boards more latitude on when they would be accessible. Democrats on the House Finance Committee oppose this latest idea because Republicans rejected their attempt to carve out an exemption for any teacher who wanted to incorporate cellphone use into a specific lesson plan. In other actions: • Mandatory mask policies (HB 361): The Senate is likely to pass this House-endorsed bill to block school districts from requiring mask wearing; former Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed an identical bill last year; • Capital budget (HB 25): The Senate will vote on its version of a two-year budget for public works projects financed by state, federal and fee-backed bonds. • Risk pools (SB 297): Secretary of State David Scanlan opposes and HealthTrust, the largest risk pool, supports this bill to allow either regulation by Scanlan or the Insurance Department of these programs that offer health, property or liability insurance to governmental units. klandrigan@
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The week ahead: Senate budget writers sharpen pencils, members tackle social agenda
While Senate budget writers are busy every day as they begin to make final decisions about a two-year spending plan, the members of the House of Representatives and state Senate must tackle a variety of social issues — everything from parental rights, clearing a path to receive Ivermectin without a prescription and segregating locker rooms, sports teams and jails by biological sex. The actions could deliver one big victory for Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who has made it one of her top priorities to sign a bill that enshrines the right of parents to ask and get answers from educators and others about discussions their children might have had including on matters of sexuality and gender identity. To do so, she'll need to survive what is shaping up as a bitter battle with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England that claims that the House-Senate GOP rewrite of the bill would deny minors access to birth control without their parents' consent. Reps. Debra DeSimone and Jay Markell, both R-Atkinson, co-authored the rewrite (SB 72 amended) with the support and collaboration of Sen. Timothy Lang, R-Sanbornton, who authored the original bill. 'No children should ever be prescribed any medical procedures of medication without parental consent to protect all children from undue and unnecessary harm by parental knowledge and information provided concerning family history,' DeSimone said. Rep. Heather Raymond, D-Nashua, said the change would run counter to federal law and threaten the state's status of having one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the nation. 'The amended bill would strip the rights of teenagers to access birth control or receive pre- and postnatal care without written parental permission,' Raymond said. 'In states like Texas which now require parental permission for birth control, teen pregnancy rates have increased along with the rates of maternal and infant death.' Ivermectin started as a treatment for animal parasites, but in 2015 its creators won the Nobel Prize for the success in treating similar conditions in humans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a viral sensation as many citizens went to feed stores to purchase the drug for them to deal with that virus. Rep. Linda McGrath, R-Hampton, who worked in the pharmacy field for decades, said it's time to lift pressures off doctors and pharmacists who want to dispense the drug by creating with the amendment a standing order that a patient can get it without a prescription. 'There have been tremendous efforts to block doctors from prescribing and pharmacists from filling this medication. Doctors have even lost their medical license for prescribing Ivermectin,' McGrath said. 'This will be totally voluntary for all health care providers who wish to participate.' Rep. Lucy Weber, D-Walpole, said giving Ivermectin such a lofty status is inappropriate given it's now done only in 'extremely limited' cases, such as smoking cessation, Narcan and EpiPens. She warned passing the bill could cause a stampede of other drug-makers seeking the same benefit. 'Consider the chaos when the manufacturers of the thousands of other medications on the market propose similar standing orders for their medications,' Weber warned. House Democrats objected to tacking the Ivermectin matter to the original bill (SB 119) the Department of Health and Human Services proposed to save $9 million a year by allowing it to dispense the cheaper drug to Medicaid patients even if that's the brand name once drug rebates have discounted that price. HHS officials also sought in its bill the same 'standing order' for 'over-the-counter medications and supplies' in the Medicaid program. The House GOP amendment took out the latter provision. Segregation on biological sex On Thursday, the Senate is expected to embrace the bill (HB 148) from House Speaker Pro Tem Jim Kofalt, R-Wilton, on segregating by biological sex. 'The passage of HB 148 is a critical step toward safeguarding privacy, fairness, safety, and respect for all Granite Staters. This legislation permits schools, businesses, prison officials and others to develop common-sense rules to govern the use of bathrooms, locker rooms, and correctional facilities,' Kofalt said. 'By upholding sex-based classifications in sports, HB 148 also preserves the safety and integrity of women's athletics by permitting schools to adopt policies that align with biological reality. The bill will also help safeguard federal funding for our public schools, colleges, and universities.' Senate Democrats will surely join their House colleagues to oppose this bill, claiming that it unfairly targets and stigmatizes transgender individuals, but they appear to be lacking the numbers to stop it. 'This bill would restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth by overriding decisions made by doctors and parents,' House Democrats said in a statement last month. Last year, former Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed an identical bill questioning if it could come in conflict with the anti-discrimination law on gender identity that he signed in 2018 and over concerns what segregating in prisons might do to the tension behind the walls. On a related matter, the House Education Policy and Administration Committee will vote on whether to support a Senate-passed plan that would restrict sports to members of the same biological sex (SB 211). The Senate is also expected to recommend killing two popular House-passed bills. Rep. Jonah Wheeler, D-Peterborough, has championed one to annul the convictions of all offenders for possession of cannabis offenses (HB 196). The other measure (HB 387) from Rep. Janet Wall, D-Madbury, would ban the release of 'lighter-than-air' balloons into the atmosphere carrying a fine of $250 for the first offense and $500 if there's a second. klandrigan@
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The week ahead: Social issues will dominate action at State House
Mar. 16—Social issues will dominate sessions of both the House of Representatives and the state Senate this week with parental rights, abortion and assisted suicide bills all facing key test votes. After 10 weeks of public hearings, House and Senate policy committees have nearly finished taking initial testimony on more than 1,000 bills filed for the 2025 session. The committees will spend much of their time this week holding executive sessions in public to make recommendations on the remaining bills. The House and Senate both have until mid-April to finish their own work. Parental rights On Thursday, House and Senate Republicans will advance their parental rights bills for a vote. House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, sponsored the House version (HB 10), which the House Children and Family Law Committee amended and brings forward to the full House. Rep. Debra DeSimone, R-Atkinson, said 18 states have adopted similar legislation. "This bill establishes a framework regarding education and care of parents' minor un-emancipated children. It ensures that parents are informed about their children's health and well-being and education while in school custody," DeSimone said. Rep. Heather Raymond, D-Nashua, said the bill's aim is laudable but it creates unforeseen consequences for professional caregivers. "It creates criminal penalties for medical providers and requires written permission before doctors can treat children," Raymond said. "Currently, parents can provide verbal consent for routine services like prescription refills. This bill will end that practice." Sen. Tim Lang, R-Sanbornton, sponsored the Senate bill (SB 72). Abortion House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson of Exeter authored a resolution (HCR 7) that would declare that a woman has an affirmative right to an abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. The House Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee voted, 10-8, to recommend rejecting this proposal. "Singling out abortion as a critical component of reproductive health care while ignoring other pressing medical issues affecting women creates a narrow and politicized approach to women's health," said Rep. Lisa Mazur, R-Goffstown. Assisted suicide A bill to legalize the right of a terminally ill adults to obtain medication to end his or her life comes to the House Thursday with a positive recommendation. Last year, an evenly divided House narrowly passed a similar bill to this one (HB 254). A few weeks later, the Senate rejected the measure. With more Republicans in the House following last November's election, it could be more difficult for the legislation to clear that chamber. Risk management programs The Senate will also vote on legislation sought by Secretary of State David Scanlan to give his office more enforcement over the pooled risk management programs that provide health or property and casualty insurance for local and county governments (SB 297). Scanlan said two of the programs came close to financial collapse and the changes would help keep them solvent in the future. Administrators of one of those programs, Health Trust, strongly oppose the legislation as an unnecessary power grab. Health Trust is by far the biggest risk management group, offering coverage to more than 250 cities, towns and school districts. Landfills The House will also vote on a bill to create a three-year moratorium on any new landfills (HB 171). Last month, Gov. Kelly Ayotte in her two-year state budget plan proposed a one-year pause on granting state landfill permits. On Wednesday, a Senate committee will hear testimony on two bills from Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka that would seek reports on the state impact of Trump administration proposals. One, (SB 303), deals with the potential elimination of the federal Department of Education and the other report, (SB 304), would be on the impact of raising U.S. tariffs on Canada. klandrigan@
