By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — House and Senate lawmakers Thursday approved the final versions of bills to prohibit medical procedures for transgender minors, to restrict voting and changes to public education on their last session of the 2025 session outside of veto day this fall.
Transgender Medical Care
Lawmakers approved bills that would limit medical care to transgender minors similar to other states like Texas, Florida and Tennessee.
The US Supreme Court recently upheld Tennessee’s law limiting medical care that is almost identical to what was approved Thursday by the House and Senate and sent to Gov. Kelly Ayotte as were all of the other bills approved Thursday.
House Bill 377 would prevent medical professionals from administering hormone treatments and puberty blockers to a minor intended to alter the child’s gender or delay puberty.
The bill does include a provision to allow the continuation of treatment if the child started treatment before Jan. 1, 2026.
In the House, Rep. Alice Wade, D-Dover, said the bill undermines two principles: interfering with a parent’s medical decision for their child, and legislating medical treatment when they are not medical providers.
“We’ve heard time and time again this session parents should have the final decision about their child’s health care and here we are,” she said. “We’ve lost the principle of minding our own damn business. This is not parental rights, this is discrimination. It is as simple as that.”
But Rep. Lisa Mazur, R-Goffstown, noted the recent US Supreme Court ruling in the Tennessee case finding its similar laws constitutional.
“Anyone who calls this life saving health care is not paying attention to the evidence,” she said. “We are protecting the children.”
In the Senate, Sen. Debra Altschiller, D-Stratham, said it would prohibit licensed professionals from providing care and place teens in potential danger.
“We have to remember puberty blockers are not administered lightly or quickly,” she said and never without parental permission, she said.
“This is not medicine, it is political interference,” she said.
But Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, supported the report adding puberty blockers can cause permanent and irreversible harm.
Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, called hormone treatments and giving puberty blockers to youths a form of conversion therapy.
The vote was 16-8.
House Bill 712 would limit breast surgeries for minors and provides a private right of action against the surgeon for violating the statute.
Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-Lebanon, said the bill would be “undermining the medical community.”
In the House, Rep. Alissandra Murray, D-Manchester, said the bill strips teenagers’ rights away and overrides the rights of parents.
She lamented the number of bills this session targeting transgender young people and said the legislature has ignored the voices of parents, trans children and their constituents in approving bills like this.
“We need to stop this year of terror that is wreaking havoc with the lives of transgender children,” Murray said.
Voting
Lawmakers approved a series of bills that will make voting more difficult for the disabled, elderly and those in nursing homes.
Senate Bill 213 requires a person registering to vote absentee to prove citizenship, age, domicile, and identity in order to qualify to vote, which opponents said would make it more difficult for the disabled, elderly and those in nursing homes to vote.
Rep. Russell Muirhead, D-Hanover, said, “This is a solution to a problem that does not exist in the state.”
But Rep. Ross Berry, R-Weare, said there is a loophole in current law that does not require any documentation when registering to vote absentee and the House has passed this provision three times this session.
The bill passed on a 197-170 vote.
Also approved was Senate Bill 218 which requires a person registering to vote absentee to prove citizenship, age, domicile, and identity as well when registering to vote .
Senate Bill 221 would have city and town clerks verify the voter checklist every year instead of the current 10-year cycle. Voters who failed to vote in an election in the last five years would be purged from the checklist under the bill.
Those removed from the checklist would be able to re-register with proof of identity and domicile under the bill.
Senate Bill 287 requires applicants for absentee ballots to present a copy of their photo identification with their application.
House Bill 613 allows cities and towns to opt out of providing accessible voting systems for voters with disabilities during local elections. A voter would have to submit written notice of his or her intent to use the system at least 60 days in advance.
House Bill 464 would prohibit certain candidates for political office from participating in ballot counting.
House Bill 154 would allow voters to request to have their ballots hand-counted.
Schools
Senate Bill 97 would allow parents to transfer their students within a school district’s schools with a few exceptions.
Opponents said it does not take class size, staff or facilities into consideration and would make education planning nearly impossible, but supporters said the bill would give parents alternatives within school districts without a fiscal impact.
The bill was approved on a 207-163 vote.
House Bill 71 prohibits public school facilities from being used to shelter undocumented immigrants.
Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, opposed the measure noting a potential loss of $12 million in federal behavioral health benefits with passage.
“We have not solved the state’s mental health and homeless problems,” she stressed. “I think we should be focused on solving NH’s problems,” she said.
The vote was 16-8.
House Bill 273 allows parents to have access to their minor child’s library records.
The opponents called the bill a solution in search of a problem, with many options for parents to oversee the material their children check out of public libraries.
But supporters said the bill is one more in a series of establishing parental rights.
House Bill 718 would require the state Board of Education to report the unfunded financial impact to school districts for rules adopted by the board which exceed state or federal minimum standards.
In the Senate, Altschiller called it an unfunded mandate.
“These costs don’t calculate themselves…the staff will need to do this,” taking away from educational servicing and leading to negative outcomes, Altschiller said. “We still have no clue what this will cost.”
It could also open the door to underfunding special education and tip the scales to look at only costs and not look at benefits, she said, but the report passed on a voice vote.
House Bill 557 would require school boards to place information on school budget ballots that includes the district’s per pupil costs and its national assessment scores.
Opponents said placing the information on the ballot without context is another attempt to undermine public schools.
Rep. Hope Damon said it is just one more attempt to defund public schools. “This is not transparency,” she said. “It’s deception.”
Property Rights
House Bill 60 would allow a property owner to terminate a lease when it expires without having to provide the tenant a reason.
Guns and Immigrants
House Bill 506 would provide a procedure for conducting a discretionary background check prior to the return of firearms or ammunition in a court proceeding.
Altschiller said the timeline in the bill is dangerous.
New Hampshire does not currently include information about mental health records and without those records, a false green light which is a potential “fatal loophole,” she said.
Altschiller claimed the bill will require new personnel and no fiscal analysis has been provided for this bill, this far along.
“This is not sound policy. This is passing the buck,” she said and asked the body to pause the measure until the state can at least evaluate the cost.
The bill would also invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses held by undocumented immigrants.
In the House, Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, said anyone deserves the ability to move freely in order to care for themselves and their families “without fear of arrest and deportation.”
He said the bill belongs in the sewer along with the budget.
In the Senate Sen. William Gannon, R-Sandown said New Hampshire does not issue licenses to “illegal aliens” but 10 states do.
“This bill will send a message that the state welcomes legal immigration but discourages illegal immigration,” he said.
Mandatory Sentences
The House approved Senate Bill 14 which would establish mandatory minimum sentences of five and 10 years based on the amount of fentanyl, while opponents argued mandatory sentencing does not work and double downs on the criminalization of addiction instead of working to overcome the disease.
The bill also would have made the possession and use of psilocybin for persons 18 years of age or older an unclassified misdemeanor.
The bill initially failed to pass on a 186-183 vote, but a later vote passed it and sent it to the Senate, who killed it.
Lottery Winners
House Bill 485 would allow persons who win the state lottery to remain anonymous through a court proceeding.
Muzzled Dogs.
House Bill 250 allows local officials to regulate muzzling dogs and increases the fee to license certain dogs.
False Reports
House Bill 243 increases the penalty for filing false abuse and neglect reports to the Division for Children, Youth, and Families.
InDepthNH reporter Paula Tracy contributed to this report.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.