Latest news with #SB295
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Critical comment sparks final EFA committee vote
The House budget chairman's claim that all New Hampshire school board members were 'corrupt' sparked the final committee vote Wednesday recommending legislation (SB 295) to remove income limits for families eligible to get Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs). The comment from Rep. Ken Weyler, R-Kingston, came as he lashed out over what he described as the failure of public schools to improve student test scores even as taxpayers pay more to support K-12 education. 'This educational system we have in our state is a failure; it just keeps going up in costs and no increase in testing results, no discipline at all because school boards are just corrupt,' Weyler said. He accused the public-school lobby of pulling out all the stops to try and stop expansion of the taxpayer subsidies for parents to send their children to private, religious, alternative public or home school programs. 'You have thousands of people working for this corrupt system and they are the ones making phone calls and I object to it,' Weyler said. In response, Rep. Rosemarie Rung, D-Merrimack, called on Weyler to apologize to all present and past school board members such as herself and other Republicans on the panel. 'Perhaps it is an exaggeration, but I don't see any improvement,' Weyler answered. 'Maybe it's an exaggeration but it is a failure.' The House Finance Committee approved a rewrite of Sen. Victoria Sullivan's EFA bill on a party-line vote, 14-11, with all Democrats in opposition. Leading Democrats said the bill violated House budget procedure because it would spend $17 million more next year than what was contained in the $15 billion state budget that the House approved last month. The House budget's EFA program (HB 115) would raise the income limit next year from 350-to-400% of the federal poverty level. For families of four, that would raise the family income threshold from $112,525 to $128,600 annually. Ayotte proposed more modest EFA expansion But Sullivan's bill that cleared the House panel Wednesday would eliminate any income eligibility restriction right away though it would set an enrollment cap of 10,000. Currently, about 5,300 students receive EFAs that cost the state budget $30 million annually. The proposal goes well beyond what Gov. Kelly Ayotte had proposed for an expansion of EFAs. In her budget address in February, Ayotte endorsed eliminating EFA income limits, but only for parents whose children are enrolled in public schools. Studies have shown that as many as 80% of parents who received EFAs already had their children enrolled in non-public schools. Rep. Kate Murray, D-New Castle, charged the cap was illusory since the bill states there would be no enrollment limit if it doesn't reach 10,000 students for two straight years. 'This cap is more of a diversion than anything else,' Murray said. 'There is no cap on this; it seems to me this is somewhat an attempt of diverting the attention away from the facts that our constituents do not support expanding this program.' Rep. Daniel Popovici-Muller, R-Windham, said Sullivan and other EFA supporters proposed the cap to counter what he called baseless claims from Democratic critics that this expansion could bankrupt the state. 'This will regulate the growth of the program to ensure that these doomsday scenarios do not come about,' Popovici-Muller said. Rep. Keith Erf, R-Weare, amended the bill to ensure that those already enrolled, their siblings, any students with disabilities and those from families making less than 350% of FPL would always be enrolled regardless of the cap. Under the amendment, if the enrollment in any one year approaches 90% of the cap then it would be increased 25% which would raise it to 12,500. Rep. Laura Telerski, D-Nashua, said it's fiscally irresponsible to increase spending on the program for wealthier parents while the state budget cut spending and would force moderate-income families to pay a 5% premium for their Medicaid-provided health care. 'Of all years, this is not the year we need to spend like this,' Telerski said. 'We need to tighten our belts like we are telling every department that they have to do.' +++ What's Next: The full House is expected to approve the amended bill next week. Prospects: Ayotte has not said she would reject the EFA expansion that's more generous than what she wanted. This bill could mean EFA supporters don't have to wait for a final state budget compromise to get the expansion they want. klandrigan@
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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@
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The week ahead: 'Double sessions' as House, Senate staring at bill passing deadlines
Mar. 23—The New Hampshire House of Representatives will hold the first "double sessions" of 2025 as its leadership stares down at a fast-approaching deadline to dispatch of its own bills. This means a two-day talk-a-thon as the House works to get through a tall pile of hot-button issues from bans on mandatory mask policies and teaching discrimination in school to preventing minors from having breast surgeries, puberty blockers or a legal ride by a non-relative to get an abortion. The state Senate has only one session Thursday, but that one will be busy enough with an agenda that ranges from expanding education freedom accounts and legalizing slot machine gambling to moving the date of the state primary election. House Speaker Sherman Packard, R-Londonderry, told colleagues the good news is that if they plow through the massive calendar meeting this Wednesday and Thursday, it won't need a session the following week. The House and Senate have until Thursday to report on all bills that didn't have to go to a second committee, such as those that spend money or raise taxes or fees. Taking the following week off would give the House Finance Committee the running room it needs to complete work on its proposed, two-year spending plan that it must recommend by April 3. Gov. Kelly Ayotte has the spotlight to herself Tuesday morning when she signs a signature priority bill (HB 592) of hers, the significant rewrite of the 2018 bail reform law she dubbed a "failed social experiment." At long last, the House and Senate have completed public hearings on their nearly 1,000 bills and the state Senate has already tried to get a jump start on hearing some House ones. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will take up in rapid fire succession four pro-marijuana bills that have cleared the House, all of which face a very uncertain future in the upper chamber. They include legalizing cannabis for adults 21 or older (HB 75), annulling for anyone the criminal conviction for marijuana (HB 196) and permitting the adults receiving medical marijuana and their caregivers to grow their own "weed" plants (HB 53). The fourth deals in the sale of non-intoxicating, hemp-derived cannabinoids (HB 51). The Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday opens up testimony on one of the priorities when it comes to housing, that is legislation to expand the definition of an accessory dwelling unit typically on the property of a single-family house lot (HB 577). Both chambers will tackle EFAs with the Senate expected to give final approval to its bill (SB 295) to allow parents of any income to receive one, but to cap the annual enrollment at 10,000 students which is roughly double the current census in the program. The House will debate a bill from the opposition view to outlaw EFAs going to religious schools (HB 549). Studies have revealed nearly 90% of the $27 million spent annually on EFAs goes for tuition to Christian-affiliated schools. The Republican-led House is expected to kill that one. Both bills deal with tougher absentee ballot access bills They each also will take up bills to stiffen requirements to obtain an absentee ballot. The House Election Laws Committee embraced an amended bill (HB 217) to compel those getting an absentee to first show proof of U.S. citizenship. Senate Republicans want to require someone first show a photo ID to get an absentee ballot as they must do to vote at the polls (SB 287). House Democrats will try to revive their bill (HB 385) to do away with a 2024 reform law former Gov. Chris Sununu signed to get rid of exemptions to that Voter ID law that allowed voters to cast a ballot by signing an affidavit even if they lacked the proper paperwork to prove local residency. In 2024, Sununu vetoed a bill that would have banned mandatory mask wearing policies in public schools; the House will be asked to pass that bill (HB 361) and see if Gov. Ayotte feels differently about it. Last week, the House passed a bill to allow for the segregation of restrooms, locker rooms, sports teams and jails by members of the same biological sex (HB 148). This week, the state Senate takes up its own legislation on the topic (SB 38). Sununu had vetoed this one as well last year. A federal court last year struck down as unconstitutionally vague a 2021 ban on teaching discrimination in public schools, a shot at critical race theory and like subjects. Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, will ask the House to embrace his bill (HB 50) that adds more specific language to that law in hopes of reviving its application throughout public schools. Democratic critics say there's no legal way to resurrect this issue. The House and Senate each are expected to endorse their own separate bills (HB 481 and SB 222) to move the state primary election up three months, from September to June. klandrigan@
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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@
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mo. bill could criminalize drag show performances in front of kids
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri legislators are considering a bill that could be used to target drag performers or shows. State Senator Rick Brattin, R-District 31, filed Senate Bill 295 on Jan. 8, 2025, the first day of the legislative session. According to its summary page, SB 295 'creates the offense of engaging in an adult cabaret performance if such performance is on public property or in a location where the performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult.' The bill defines an adult cabaret performance as 'a performance in a location other than an adult cabaret that features topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether performed for consideration.' Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now When asked by FOX 2 News to address complaints that the bill targets drag performers, Brattin responded via email, 'This bill is aimed at protecting children from inappropriate, obscene, and adult 'performances,'' and that its intentions are clear. First time offenders could be charged with a class A misdemeanor, while repeat offenders would face a class E felony. The Senate's Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee held a public hearing on Feb. 19. The bill would have to clear the committee before going to the Senate floor. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
