By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — Lawmakers Thursday gave final approval to a bill prohibiting the use of the “gay panic” defense in a murder trial in the state.
Several key bills either passed by one or two votes and one needed the vote of House Speaker Sherman Packard to survive.
The gay panic bill, or House Bill 315, passed the House on a 271-98 vote, and the Senate on a voice vote.
In the House, several representatives argued the bill will have unintended consequences and could make it harder for women to claim self-defense in repelling an unwanted sexual advance.
Rep. Chris True, R-Sandown, said under the bill physical force would have to be used against a woman before she could use a self-defense argument to the jury.
But Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Windham, and a former state Supreme Court Chief Justice, said the bill does not touch the current self-defense statutes.
“The only circumstance this applies to has nothing to do with self-defense,” Lynn said. “Someone is dead and you are charged with murder.”
Under the current law you can tell the jury to find me guilty of a lesser offense because the person I killed is less worthy because he is gay or transgender, Lynn said.
“Can you imagine that, because of a person’s gender,” he said. “That is outrageous.”
Rep. Mike Belcher, R-Wakefield, said his concern is restricting what can be said to a jury as a way of putting your thumb on the scales of justice.
“This is a slippery slope of restrictions on what a jury may be able to hear,” Belcher said.
The bill had included other protected classes besides just for gay panic defense but the others were removed from the bill in conference committee.
“There have been a number of important moments this session worth highlighting, where the Legislature took action that directly impacts the lives of our LGBTQ+ friends, family members, neighbors, community members, and fellow colleagues in both the House and Senate,” said Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, D-Portsmouth, after the bill passed. “The passage of HB 315 sends an imperative message to Granite Staters that New Hampshire remains a welcoming state and we will take steps to protect all of our citizenry, including our marginalized groups.”
The bill now goes to Gov. Chris Sununu for action.
School Tuition
House Bill 275 would allow a parent to pay the difference between a school district’s cap on tuition payments to an approved school in another district, and what the school charges for tuition.
The bill mostly applies to districts without a middle or high school that have to send their children to other districts.
Rep. Mel Myler, D-Hopkinton, said the bill goes against the tradition of public education and would allow well-to-do parents to receive a taxpayer subsidy for a private school tuition and they would pay the difference.
“This increases the inequities in educational opportunities for those who can afford to pay extra,” he said, “while all the others are in underfunded public schools.”
But the bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. Rick Ladd, R-Haverhill, said the bill covers contractual agreements between school districts.
“All children are different and unique,” Ladd said. “You can not walk up and say I want my child to go to Holderness or I want my child to go to Kimball Union.”
He said parents may work in one town and want their children to go to that school, but the tuition goes up when a second child is about to enter high school and the school district won’t pay all of the tuition.
He said he has several families in the towns he represents who have that issue.
“I ask you to move forward in the best interest of families and students and the workforce,” Ladd said.
The bill passed on a 187-185 vote and now goes to the governor for action.
Charter Schools
An even closer vote helped move House Bill 536 over the hurdle with Sherman having to make the deciding vote, 186-185.
The bill concerned the Joint Charter School Oversight Committee, but the Senate added a section that would allow a charter school to enter for mediation on the price of an unused public school it wants to buy.
Rep. David Luneau, D-Hopkinton, said the bill would require a taxpayer funded and maintained school be sold to a charter school organization without the approval of the school board.
“I have no problem with existing law, which works as intended,” he said, “but with this bill the commissioner of education sets the market price, and if there is no other offer, the board must sell it for that price or less.”
He said taxpayers paid for land, paid for the building and its maintenance and renovations, and they could be forced to sell it for less than they spent on it.
Look at what happened in Tuftonboro, where they sold a town building for $1 to an evangelical charter school, he said.
“It’s all part of the grand plan to destroy public schools,” Luneau said. “We need to stop listening to this extremist propaganda and turning our backs on our friends and neighbors.”
But Ladd said it would be a mediation process and no one is forcing anyone to sell unused schools nor is the commissioner setting a low price.
He said school buildings are vacant because of the drop in student enrollment.
“What a concept,” Ladd said, “putting public school kids back into public schools that have been closed.”
Some charter school groups want to use these buildings for public school kids, he said.
The bill now goes to the governor.
County Commission Districts
By two votes, the House approved House Bill 75 which would establish three county commissioner districts in Strafford County. The Senate approved the conference committee report along party lines 14-10.
The conference committee failed to reach agreement on the two versions of the bill as the two Democrats refused to go along, but they were replaced and the-all Republican conference committee approved the plan.
Currently the county elects its three commissioners countrywide and has for many years. It is the only county without separate districts in the state and that was the crux of the argument for the bill by the Republican majority.
The three county commissioner slots have been held by Democrats for over a decade.
Opponents of the change argued Republicans had their opportunity to make the change last year when the political boundaries of political offices were redrawn in conjunction with new US Census data.
The lines are redrawn every 10 years to adjust for population changes.
Rep. Laurel Stavis, D-West Lebanon, said redrawing boundaries after the process is complete is believed to be unconstitutional and would set a very bad precedent with the boundaries being changed every year due to partisan wishes.
“We don’t redistrict counties outside the 10-year cycle. We don’t mess with the districts and we certainly don’t create new districts,” she said. “Once we start down this road of changing electoral maps outside the 10-year cycle, we throw out the rules and . . . this will be a partisan free-for-all.”
But Rep. Len Turcotte, R-Barrington, said another map was proposed during the conference committee, but it was rejected and instead there have been fear grenades thrown or fear mongering.
He said district lines for counties have been changed several times outside of the 10-year cycle and it is not unconstitutional.
“Strafford County is entitled to the same election process every other county already enjoys,” Turcotte said, instead of “this de facto gerrymandered election for commissioners that has been going on in Strafford County for decades, but will come to an end.”
The report passed on a 186-185 vote after a tabling motion failed on the same vote.
The chairman of the Strafford County Commissioners, George Maglaras, has said he will sue over the change.
After the vote, Democrats in the House and Senate decried what they called a blatantly partisan attempt to upend the traditional redistricting process and going down a dark path further politicizing redistricting.
They called it a brazen partisan power grab.
Electric Policy
The House and Senate approved House Bill 281, which overhauls the state’s site evaluation committee to approve major utility projects, and removes least cost planning requirements for utilities, has the Department of Energy determine and set the average cost for renewable energy requirements that will appear in customers’ bills, and allows other towns or cities to purchase power from host communities for renewable energy project.
The conference committee did not change the bill that failed to pass the House two weeks ago before a conference committee was approved.
While Republicans praised the bill as needed changes to policies to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, some opponents said it will ultimately increase consumers’ bills and fails to adequately protect the environment.
The bill passed the House on a 250-121 vote and the Senate on a voice vote.
Cannabis
The House and Senate easily passed House Bill 611 which establishes a commission to study a state-controlled sales system for cannabis in line with what Sununu said he would approve.
The bill also removes the requirement to participate in the medical cannabis program that a patient try other pain reducing drugs before turning to marijuana.
The bill also prohibits the sale of hemp products with high levels of THC.
Both the Senate and the House passed the bill on a voice vote.
“(This bill) is a step in the right direction.” said Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton. “A direction that Granite Staters, across the political spectrum, have asked their elected officials to consider year after year.”
Thursday ended the regular session for 2023. Lawmakers will return in September to vote on Sununu’s vetoes.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.