By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Gov. Kelly Ayotte said the revolving door for criminals returning to reoffend on New Hampshire streets was slammed shut when she signed a bail reform law Tuesday.
Law enforcement from across the state, county attorneys, mayors and legislators stood together behind Ayotte as she signed the expedited House Bill 592 into law.
“I’ve got to tell you for me, I’m thrilled,” said the former U.S. Senator, NH Attorney General and homicide prosecutor who campaigned as a Republican on a platform that included improved public safety.
She said she heard from voters their concerns about the 2018 bail reform law and said she was pleased to bring together “a broad coalition around public safety in New Hampshire.”
She called the changes made to the law in 2018 a “failed social experiment” and said the new law returns the state to a safer environment than it was prior to bail reform.
“There have been too many cases where our law enforcement officials have seen someone that they shouldn’t see again that should be held pending trial because of their background or because of the dangerous crimes they have committed in the past or they have failed to appear and really this law we have put together is one that will make sure that this ends,” Ayotte said.
“There is a reason that New Hampshire has been consistently ranked the safest state in the nation and that is because you see the people behind me that work on public safety issues, they care deeply. Those that are working on our streets every day, our law enforcement officers, they work incredibly hard. All they want to do is make sure that the people of New Hampshire are safe. Our legislators that care deeply about our public safety community and our law enforcement officers and just to make sure that average people in this state can walk down the street and enjoy the beauty of New Hampshire, enjoy time with their families without worrying about being victimized. So that is what this bill is about today.”
The Senate voted 23-0 last week to pass the bill which passed on partisan lines in the House.
At a public hearing on the bill the week before, several people spoke about concerns that the bill might have an added cost for incarceration.
The governor said the law should be looked at through the eyes of victims.
“This one really hit (home) for me, having been attorney general and as I campaigned for governor and I kept hearing the stories of cases where someone was out on bail that shouldn’t have been out on bail and then someone else was harmed and that just hit me right here. I know everyone around here felt the same so I am so glad that we are together and I get to sign this bill.”
Not all were pleased with the passage and signing of the law including The Bail Project which called it “a dangerous, regressive bill aimed at rolling back portions of New Hampshire’s bipartisan 2018 bail reform law, which has successfully reduced pretrial incarceration, saved taxpayer dollars, and coincided with significant declines in crime. New Hampshire’s bail laws were subsequently amended just last year – changes that just went into effect January 1, 2025,” according to a statement the organization released.
“Governor Ayotte is pushing a reckless rollback that will lead to more Granite Staters being jailed before trial, denying their right to the presumption of innocence. This bill eliminates key safeguards, weakens due process, and expands pretrial incarceration with no proven public safety benefits,” the statement read.
“House Bill 592 will increase pretrial incarceration, disproportionately harming low-income communities, overloading the state’s jail system, undermining fundamental rights, and destabilizing Granite Stater’s lives (given pretrial incarceration’s impact of job loss, impacting housing stability, and more).
Ayotte said sometimes national issues coming from out-state can lead to changes in our laws that don’t really fit and she said that is what happened with the 2018 bail reform law.
“Nobody wants anyone to be held because they can’t afford to pay but that has been addressed,” with the new law, Ayotte said. “We always try to craft laws that fit New Hampshire.”
She also noted that she would like to see anti-Sanctuary City bills pass and reach her desk for her to sign.
“We also need to work cooperatively with immigration services because we want to make sure that we don’t allow dangerous people…to remain on our streets,” she said.